Death, My Enemy, My Savior
by Vivid Imaginest
Summary: Seth, a druid positioned in Icecrown has mistakenly come across some some information that could end the war against Arthas for good. When she is found out, her memory is erased, and the only hope she has is her worst enemy; Death.
1. Death

**Chapter 1: **Death

Death. One word meant something else to each person you asked. Some feared it. Others longed for it. Then, there were the ignorant who had no idea what the word meant to them at all. It was these people I either envied or hated; I couldn't tell. To not know what death was, to me, seamed like a blessing. Never having to feel the pain and sorrow that followed it. But to be ignorant, in my position, was not something I wanted nor needed to be blessed with. Those people who did not care for death, those were the ones I hated. Either because they had never experienced its losses, or because they killed for a living. It was people....no...monsters like these that I was fighting now. Death. Just the thought of it saddens and sickens me to no end. As of this very moment, I was sick of Death.

In the beginning, I was young and eager to explore the region known as Northrend. I had heard many tales from travelers of the hideous monsters, gorgeous scenery, and magnificent treasures that awaited any who sought them out. Northrend. That was a place, I had decided, that I wanted to go see.

My wish was granted shortly after. Being a druid skilled in healing, I was sought out and told to report to a small camp in Icecrown. After months of travel, I had finally made it to my destination. I was to report to the medical clinic in the small camp I was stationed in. At first, it wasn't so bad. But after a span of time, things got worse and worse. More came for me to heal every day, and many were beyond my help. I did what I could do for them, but many of them were taken. At the time, we just buried the dead behind camp, but soon found this was an extremely unwise decision.

A raid was issued on our small camp. The scourge seemed to come out of no where. One minute there was peace, the next chaos. The risen of Arthas' army slaughtered any they came across. Unfortunately, they soon discovered our makeshift graveyard, and all the buried became the thing they had died trying to destroy. Only a handful of people survived that day, me included. That was my first real taste of death, and I hated it.

We were relocated to another camp just like the one before, only a bit bigger. Months past, and it seemed no progress was made on our part at all. In reality, it seemed as if we were losing this war. Hundreds were killed each day, and I began to wonder when we would run out of troops, but it seemed as if we had an endless supply. So did they. For every one we killed, they seemed to gain ten more. To my dismay and the dismay of a few other healers, the clinic was becoming fairly crowded. Not with the dead, no, but with healers themselves. It was decided that a few of the more experienced healers, such as myself, would go out into the field of battle and heal the wounded there. I cursed my luck.

That's where we were now, and would probably be until this war ended, or we were either killed. Every day I was sent out into battle, and everyday I came back with minor scratches. I was lucky. The other's weren't. With more healers supplied to the battle front, we seemed to be holding them off fine. That is, until the Scourge realized if they took the healers out, the rest would be easy picking. Ironically, it reminded me of a time where the Alliance had figured out by killing the healers, we could win in the battle of Warsong I was also involved in, by accident I might add. That was years ago, though. So, one by one I watch my healer comrades fall in battle. With each one down, it felt as if a bigger burden was being thrown on my shoulders, and I furiously tried to keep as many alive as I could.

It had been two years since all of this happened, and I was still in this frozen wasteland, fighting in vein. I don't know how I have managed this far, but by Elune's hand I have found strength. I continue to fight, hopping, willing, that someday this charade will come to an end and there will finally be peace.

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**Wow, that totally came out of boredom 0.o who knew I could write something like that! Maybe it's because I'm tired? I dunno..Anyway, please review and tell me what you think. Incase you were wondering, no, this is not a one shot. I actually plan to do more chapters, dunno when though. Also, incase you find this little drabble interesting, I will more than likely be asking for some viewer help for a few of the later chapters, such as character names, place names, ideas, etc. So stay tuned! ALSO! Note that this is an extremely short chapter cuz it's kinda like telling you what's going on and what not. The next one will be longer!**


	2. That Sly Bastard Arthas

**Chapter 2:** That Sly Bastard Arthas

**Disclaimer:** I don't own World of Warcraft blah blah. I am not being paid to write this Blah blah blah.

Damn that bell. How the hell did they even know it was morning? The sun never shown and the sky was always dark. Never the less, I dragged myself out of bed and began to put my armor on. I was one of the highest ranking Druid's there was in my encampment, so it was only fitting I got to wear the best gear. For the most part, it was alright, but the shoulders got heavier the longer you wore them. That, and the helm looked ridiculous. It made me look as if I had a raven's beak. It protected me though, and that's what counted the most. I threw on my boots and clasped my cape to my back then headed out of the tent I shared with two others.

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, which usually wasn't so bad, but today the smell was terrible. I coughed and wheezed as I looked to see which direction the smell was coming from. Smoke was coming from the Alchemy lab at the far end of the camp. As I jogged my way over to see what had happened, the smell became worse. It was clear to say that was where the smell was coming from.

Several humans wearing gas masks were hastily cleaning up what looked to be like some sort of chemical explosion. I could already tell who had done it. Gimbly. That gnome had a talent for blowing things up, _especially _with chemicals. No doubt the commander would be chewing her out this very moment.

That's just what he was doing too, when I found him and Gimbly several feet away from the accident. He was yelling pretty loud too, So loud, I'm sure anyone with ear's as sensitive as mine could hear him from the other side of camp. Poor Gimbly, she was only trying to help too. I kept my distance while I waited for him to go away. As he stormed away from her, I silently crept up behind her and let out a sigh.

Gimbly jumped so high, you would have thought she had sprouted wings or something. I covered my mouth to suppress the giggle trying to escape my lips.

"Seth!" Gimbly exclaimed, "Don't sneak up on me like that! You know how jittery I am."

"Sorry Gimbly," I apologized. I was sorry, but it was always so funny to frighten the poor girl. She was fixed on the idea that one day I would give her a heart attack. "What were you working on this time?"

" Ex 139B," she stated. I gave her a quizzical look. She sighed before clearing her throat. "The potion that brings ghouls back to life! The way they were before they died."

"Seriously? I thought you would have given up on that one ages ago!" Gimbly was a genius with potions, but this one seemed a tad far fetched. I mean really, a potion that brings ghouls back to life? PLEASE! If it were that simple, I would have discovered it long ago. I was a wiz at Alchemy. "What ingredients did you put in it?"

"Well, lets see.." as she started to list off the various ingredients, counting with her fingers, I felt a sudden chill in the air. As dead as the land around me was, it could still speak to me. As a druid, I was trained to listen to it carefully, and to trust it's word with my life. Something was moving; something big.

"Winter's Bite, and Fire Leaf," finished Gimbly.

"Wait, what? Winter's Bite and Fire Leaf? Geeze Gimbly! Even you should know those two cancel each other out. Alchemy 101!" yelled another gnome to her as I wandered away.

I began to pick up the pace as I maneuvered my way through camp to the main tent. What ever was about to happen, I had a feeling my superiors should know about it, if they didn't already. Apparently, they already knew. Not even ten feet from the opening of the tent I ran into the commander. He had seemed to be in some deep thought before I knocked into him and sent him back to earth.

"Saberwind? Good, just the person I was looking for. You're to head to the field immediately. The scourge is moving an army full of Abominations away form Icecrown Citadel up toward The Conflagration. We have already sent several platoons that way. We need every available unit out there now, and that means you!" said the commander. I nodded and went to gather my things. This was the third movement like this this month. What was Arthas up to?

As I approached the battle field, it looked like the battle had already begun. I quickly dove down and touched ground, shape shifting into my tree form upon landing. I went from crowd to crown tossing a heal to who ever needed one, every now and then switching into cat form to take on a ghoul or two who thought I was an easy target. That was the last thing I would ever be.

The longer the battle dragged on, the more I began to wonder what was the true meaning behind this skirmish. Usually Arthas was more clever than this. Was this just a meaningless massacre? No, there had to be a reason for this. As I threw out a few more heals, I felt a chill again. Something was missing...Oh no..Abominations! Where were they!? Hadn't the commander said this army would be made solely of them? Had he been misinformed? No, he hadn't. Right on cue, several Abominations appeared from what seemed to be no where. I mentally cursed my luck. I would probably die out here. Well, at least I wouldn't go without a fight!

I changed from my tree form to cat, and started slaughtering any ghoul that got in my way. Again, I felt a chill. They weren't fighting back! But why? I swore my heart stopped beating for a split second when the realization finally hit me. This was a mass suicide attempt on Arthas' part. He let us catch word of this movement, knowing we would send the majority of our troops here. That's when he would send in the Abominations and blow everything within the vicinity up. I tried to call for a retreat, but it was no use. My voice wouldn't work. I was frozen with fear. Every passing second seemed to creep by slowly, as I looked death straight in the eyes. It smiled at me, welcoming me into it's cold embrace, I tried to run, but my feet failed me as well. I had locked up. The only thing that seemed to work was my brain, which, at the moment, was of no damn use to me anyway.

Just as my body started to unlock it happened. Thousands of screams all at once, as abomination by abomination blew up, sending hundreds upon hundreds of men and women flying. I tried to escape with some of the others who had tried to flee, but it was too late for everyone. The force of the explosion had knocked me sky high. Just as I was about to fly off, something hard and warm flew at me, both knocking the wind out of me and making everything in my world go black.

Saying I was surprised was an understatement. I was alive! I couldn't believe it! Was I uninjured? Of course not! My head was pounding so hard I could have sworn I had just been run over by a heard of Kodo. I used my hand to prop myself up, and to my surprise, I felt something...fuzzy? As I placed my other hand over the back of my head, I cracked and eye open. Where the hell was I?

It was a circular room with bookshelves lining the walls. Here and there books were scattered around. Near the door, there was a desk with a giant book on it that sparked my interest. I stood up, careful not to disturb anything or show any sign of ever being there. I quietly walked over to the desk and took a look at the book. It was open to a page with what seemed to be some kind of recipe for a potion on it. I skimmed over the ingredients, recognizing some while others I had never even heard of. I silently flipped to the next page and skimmed through. My eyes began to widen when the importance of what I had stumbled upon hit me. Right in front of me was a way to win this awful war. I flipped back to the page with the ingredients on it. I quickly ran over to the window to see if the book could fit through. There was no way. It was too big, and probably to heavy for me to carry anyway. The scene outside the window sparked my interest. I had never been in this building before. Though, that was probably because it was Icecrown Citadel itself! How the hell did I end up in here? I shook the thought out of my head and returned to the book. I quickly memorized the ingredients written in the book and made a mad dash for the window.

I could feel my body begin to change shape as half of my body was already out of the window. My body had begun to shrink and my facial features had begin to change into bird like features. I could feel the bones in my arms begin to become light enough for flying, and feathers begin to grow. In an instant, the process froze. My body became cool, my heart came to a sudden halt, and my vision blurred, ultimately fading to black.

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**Wow, two chapters in two days! Thats never happened before...I guess I really like writting this story! As always, please review! Also, once Seth loses her memory, where do you think she shoud end up? Please let me know! Also, I also put a poll up on my user page, so please check it out and vote!**


	3. Savior from Hell

**Chapter 3:** Savior from Hell

**Disclaimer:** Don't own wow, just this story and my own ideas...yada yada..

**Thank you, Lyoko's Cardcaptor for reviewing. Your words were so kind! Also, thank you to all of those people who have fav'd, added this story to their Alert list or otherwise. I really appreciate the fact you guys like this story! Now, on with the show!**

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"What are we going to do with her?"

"Kill her, of course!"

"Don't you think that's kinda harsh?"

"WHAT KIND OF DEATH KNIGHT ARE YOU?"

"Oh oh! Let's experiment on her!"

"Just give her to Gluth, he could always use a new play mate.."

"Silence! Enough!"

The huge room was cold and dimly lit. Some would say it was one of the most bare rooms in all of the Citadel. Why it was even here was a mystery to some. Rumors stated this was where Arthas would meditate for days when he was just learning to control the powers of the Lich King. Other's thought prisoners were brought here and used for target practice for some of the newer recruits. This was never proven true, but it did explain the blood stains near the ceiling.

In the middle of the room sat a rather large block of ice, with a rather odd looking creature in the middle. It seemed to be some sort of bird like animal, but upon closer inspection, anyone who had a brain (and many of the creatures in the citadel didn't) could tell it was a druid shifting forms. The poor druid who seemed to be in a hibernate-like state was surrounded on all sides. Death Knights here, necromancers there, and the occasional ghoul every now and again. Pacing back and forth, rather floating back and forth, was a very disturbed lich. Steam seemed to be coming out of him from all over, as the chains floating around him sped up their rotation every now and then. It was obvious Kel'thuzad was deep in thought.

_'HOW DID SHE GET IN HERE!?' _the lich screamed in his head, _'This is Icecrown Citadel, the most protected place on the face of Azeroth! Not even a fly could get in here undetected!' _The lich paused in his pacing. _'Could this be part of some bizarre plan my lord has? No, what could this wench possibly mean to my lord?' _The pacing began again. _'If she isn't part of his plans, should I kill her? But, if she is, I'll more than likely be next...'_ Again, the lich paused. He didn't like that thought one bit. Surely, by now the Lich King knew about this intrusion, yes? But, what if he didn't? There we just too many "if"s "and"s or "but"s and Kel'thuzad didn't like them one bit. If his master didn't know about this all ready, there was no need to get him involved. He would just deal with it himself!

He quickly floated over to where he had left the girl frozen in her prison earlier, not even noticing the crowd that had gathered. Eying her thoughtfully, knowing death was not an option _'Lucky wench!' _he called for one of his necromancers to take her to the interrogation cell and have her memory erased.

"But do it quickly!" the lich spat, "We have much to do and can't be left worrying about some silly druid. Well, what are you waiting for? GO!"

The crowd that had gathered suddenly vanished, along with the girl, and Kel'thuzad found himself longing to be back home in Naxxramas.

Cold. Cold. Damn, why is it so cold!? That was the first thought I had when I regained consciousness. I tried to open my eyes, but they wouldn't move. I tried moving my limbs, but I was unable to. Something was going on. I couldn't even sense my druid powers anymore. Suddenly, before I could even register what was going on, pictures starting dancing before my eyes. Friends, family, comrades, enemies, good times and bad; I remembered them all, and in an instant they were gone. It seemed to jump around, from my childhood, to recent times, and then back some more. Some of the memories weren't even the whole thing, just bits and pieces. What ever was happening was happening in a hurry. For a second, it seemed like everything paused and then continued on, only faster than before. Then it stopped.

Pain. That was the next thing I felt. One minute I felt like I was on fire, the next I was being torn limb from limb. What the fuck was going on!? I would have screamed out in horror and pain so loud I would have made myself deft, but I was still not aloud to move. The pain I could take any day, it was not being able to fight back that really got me. That was the last thing I ever wanted to be; an easy target. People thought because I was a healer I couldn't fight back, that all I was good for was keeping others alive. I hated those people almost as much as I hated death. In one instant, I felt all the heat return to my body, the pain finally sink in, and the blood gush from my fresh wounds as I was tossed into something dark and swirling. After that, I gave up.

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Thaladona sighed. After all the perfect days he had been having, clear sky, no rain (of course, he wasn't sure if this was normal weather for Hyjal) something, or someone, just had to ruin it. He had been laid back waiting for a fish to bite on his lure when a giant black portal opened up in the sky and suddenly closed with out a sound. Now, Thaladona wasn't much into magic anymore, but anyone still in their right mind would know something was up. After putting away his fishing pole and gathering up his Runeblade, he called to his faithful mount Brusha and began headed in the direction he saw the "day ruiner", as he was calling it now.

The ride there in itself was quite pleasant, just as much of his day had been. That is, until the screaming started. Whatever was making the noise could put a Banshee to shame with it's blood curdling scream. He had to put his helm on and tie a bandanna around his head just to make the noise bearable to his sensitive ears. To his ears dismay, he picked up the pace toward the noise. Shortly after the screaming stopped, he found it's cause.

Ragged leather covered the figure that he now bore down at. A mess of blood stained purple hair was atop the poor creatures head. The wounds covering her bloody body looked fresh, as blood poured freely from them. The poor thing had it's face in the ground, and by the looks of things, was having trouble breathing it's last breaths. Feeling pity on whatever was now in front of him, he dismounted from his Deathcharger and knelt down next to it. He slowly pulled the creature into his lap and brushed it's hair away from it's face as to get a better look at it. He mentally cursed. In his lap laid a dying Night Elf. Any other horde would have just left her there to die, but Thaladona wasn't like that. He was too kind for his own good. Looking over her again, he took into account all the wounds that were visible. There were more than likely more that he couldn't see, and without proper help, this poor woman would be a goner.

As he slowly positioned her into his arms bridal style, her hand shot up and grabbed his bicep. He looked at her directly in the eyes. So many emotions showed there: hate, anger, fear, sadness. Before she passed out, he swore he saw the faintest hint of happiness flicker in her eyes and then vanish. With some difficulty, Thal managed to get the both in Brusha's saddle.

"Quickly, Brusha," he whispered into his Deathcharger's ear, "There is much to be done if we are to save this one."

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**Woohoo! Chapter 3 is up and the new character has been introduced! I was having a hard time thinking of his name, so Thanks WoWikki! You'll understand why later. I pretty much covered what I wanted to in this chapter, but it seems to be shorter than the last one...Wtf? I swore it was longer! Other than that, I thought this chapter turned out pretty well, and things are progressing nicely ^^. Again, please review!**


	4. The Part of Me That Does Trust You

**Chapter 4:** The Part of Me That Does Trust You

**Disclaimer:** Dont own wow! yay! Wait, no..BOO!!! ='(

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Thaladona cast his lure back into the lake. After a week of treating the injured Night Elf he had found, it was time for some relaxation. This week was probably one of the longest of his life. Brusha was tired out as well. Several times every day he had taken her out to gather herbs that would be of use in healing the elf. The process was long and difficult since it had been ages since he needed to use what little First Aid he knew. As Thal has guessed, there were more wounds that were covered up by what was left of the elf's armor. It was hard for him to focus on the task at hand, and many times he had to stop his eyes from wandering. Thal found himself thinking about the images in his head often, before he mentally slapped himself.

The girl had yet to wake even once and it worried him. She wasn't dead, but he couldn't remember if it was normal for someone to be asleep for that long. Had she gone into a coma? That thought was killed halfway through the week when he woke up to a scream almost as terrible as the one the elf had produced when he found her in the forest. She was having some kind of nightmare, and no matter what Thal tried, he couldn't get her to calm down or a waken. He felt terrible knowing there was nothing he could do to help the suffering girl. Often he wondered if he should have just left her to die. It might have been a better fate than whatever she was suffering now.

On the fifth night of the week, Thal had trouble sleeping. For the majority of the day, he felt like something was bound to happen, but it never did. Thal passed it off as some form of anxiety. As he laid down for the third time that night, he heard whimpers coming from inside the tent he had set up for himself that now housed the injured elf. He got up from his makeshift cot and walked in. This was how the screaming started. She would always whimper first and then scream for a few minutes. Thal pulled a chair up next to the bed.

He felt so helpless. From what he could remember of his life, he had always wanted to help people. Even if he hadn't, that's what he wanted to do now to make up for everything he had done under Arthas' control. Watching the elf next to him writhe in pain killed him inside. When the screaming started, he sighed. He was actually quite surprised he had not gone deft yet. Other than for when he had to apply new bandages to her body, Thal never actually touched the elf. When he found himself stroking her hair and making small shushing sounds to her, he was rather surprised. He kept doing the motion until he accidentally touched her ear. As soon as that happened, her screaming stopped. Long seconds passed before she started to whimper again. He slowly brushed her hair behind her ear, purposely touching it again. The whimpering stopped, and she seemed to lean into the touch. Thal found this childish, but who was he to judge?

Something tugged on Thal's lure, and he jerked the rod toward him. First bite of the day and it was a big one. As he reeled the line in, he noticed it was another trout. "Damn it! Aren't there any other fish living in these waters besides trout?" For the past couple of days he had been living off trout and any berries or nuts he happened to come across. With the elf in his care, it was almost impossible to go farther than half a mile away from camp. He took the fish off the lure and put it in the net he had made from what was left of the elf's armor. It was no longer wearable, so he put it to use otherwise. "I should probably check up on her," he said to no one in particular. Putting his pole aside and giving Brusha a glance, he entered the tent.

I awoke to the touch of something cold and wet stroking against my cheek. I groaned and tried to open my eyes. Everything was so fuzzy. After blinking my eyes several times my vision finally cleared. "Where am I?" I said without thinking.

"So, you're finally awake," a cold voice greeted me. I turned my head in the direction the voice had come from. My breath hitched in my throat as my eyes met with the icy blue eyes of another. Those were the first things I noticed. Those eyes were just to enchanting. In a way, they were beautiful, but they showed no feelings at all. They fit perfectly on the man's face. It was hard and came to a rounded point. His skin was almost like a shade of peach, but a bit lighter. Then there was his hair. That was the second thing that got my attention. It was so long and blue of all colors! It formed a small 'V' shape in the front near his forehead and then was pulled behind his long ears. Half of it fell behind his shoulders while the rest was placed in front. It draped all the way down to his chest. If he hadn't been standing up, it probably would have touched my nose.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. My words were stuck in my throat as I continued to study him. There was something about this man that was off. I could feel whatever it was hanging on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't place it. I decided to let it go for now, I would remember sooner or later. I tried to sit up, but it was difficult. He tried to get me to lay back down, but I just brushed him off.

"Careful, you might open your wounds again. They haven't fully healed yet."

The blanket I was covered with was now covering everything below my waist. I looked down at myself. Everything from my elbows down to my waste was covered in bandages! Patches of a rust color here and there. It shocked me. I franticly tried to remember how this had happened, but I couldn't remember.

"How did this happen?" I asked, looking up at the man beside me.

He looked at me a tad confused. "You mean you don't remember?" I shook my head. He studied me closely for a moment, as if looking for something that wasn't there. After a moment of silence he spoke up again.

"What's your name?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but then realized I didn't know. I had to have known, it was my name after all! I thought hard for a long moment, seeing if anything came to mind. Finally, I sighed. It was useless.

"I don't know..."

The man, who I had now recognized as and Elf, ran a a hand through his hair. He seemed to be stressed. I wasn't sure if it was about me or not. Everything got quiet then, and I looked around to take in my surroundings. I was in a tent. It wasn't big, but it wasn't small either. Besides the twin bed I was sitting in, there was a desk with a chair placed by the opening flaps, some cloth and thread scattered around on top of the desk here and there. Besides the desk was a basket of what I figured were different types of cloth. There was a small bookshelf placed next to my bed with hardly any books in it. That was about it. The tent had a kind of homey feeling to it. I looked around once more and noticed the elf with the blue hair (I would have to get his name later) was missing.

_'I wonder where he went,' _I thought to myself. This was my opportunity to see if I could walk without injuring myself. I removed the covers from my lower half and realized I was wearing a light green skirt that went down to my ankles. It looked almost band new and was obviously hand made. It was very soft and seemed to flow like a river from my waist to my feet. Admiring aside, I threw my feet over the edge of the bed with no difficulty and pushed myself up, immediately falling back onto the bed. I looked down and realized my feet were also wrapped in bandages. I lifted the skirt up to my knees to further inspect the damage but it looked as if only my feet had been badly damaged. I sighed and slowly lowered the upper half of my body back onto the bed. I moved my hands behind my head and almost wish I hadn't. My hair was filthy! I could feel the dirt and grease mixed into it. I looked at my hands and then the rest of my body. I was filthy! When was the last time I had taken a bath? I'm surprised I didn't smell terrible. My mind was taken off getting a bath for a moment when the aroma of something cooking outside caught my attention. It smelled delicious and my stomach seemed to agree. I heard a chuckle from the opening of the tent and saw the elf standing there with a plate in his hand. I couldn't tell what was on it, but wow, did it smell good!

"Hungry huh? Good thing I restocked my food supply today," Thal said as he walked over to the night elf and handed her the plate of food. She looked at it suspiciously before she picked up one of the berries and placed it in her mouth. Soon another followed that one and then another. Thal chucked again. "Slow down there, it's not like that's the last meal you're ever going to have. If you want more, let me know. I have plenty." With that, he walked outside of the tent and let her finish eating.

Thal went and sat down by the fire he had been cooking over. He tossed a fish over to Brusha, who sniffed it and seemed to sigh before finally eating it. Then, Thal began to eat his dinner as well. He was in quite a pickle. As much as he enjoyed helping people, a Night Elf with amnesia seemed like too much for him to handle. It was obvious what ever had happened to her had caused her body to go into a defensive state and lock away her memories, so getting anything out of her was almost impossible. Thal sighed as he picked up a few berries and placed them into his mouth, rolling them on his tongue before bitting into them. He would have to get the elf out of the tent so he could replace the sheets on her bed before things really started to smell bad in there. He would also have to get the her cleaned up too, and he could almost imagine how that would go.

After checking up on the Night Elf, who had fallen asleep after she had finished her meal, Thal fed whatever was left to Brusha and then prepared himself for bed. He slept pretty well that night too. When he woke up the next day, the sun was just breaking over the peaks of the mountains in the distance. Everything was nice and quiet, the dew on the grass shimmering in the morning light. Thal was just about to go back to sleep when something warm and heavy fell on top of him, making his eyes shoot wide open and knocking all the wind right out of him.

As he pushed whatever it was off of him, he heard a hissing noise from it. Looking up, he realized it was the Night Elf he was trying to get off of him. He mentally cursed at the girl. What the hell was she doing out of bed? She barely moved at all as he got himself out from underneath her and helped her to sit up right.

"What are you doing out of bed?" he asked her. Her head was turned to the side and she was looking at the ground. She reminded him of a child who had just done something wrong and was afraid they'd be punished. When he got no response, he stood up and looked her over. She hadn't seemed to reopen any of her wounds at least, that was good. "Are you going to answer my question?" he asked looking down at her. He heard something come out under hear breath, but he didn't catch it. "What was that?" he asked. She repeated what she had said before and he had to strain his ears to hear it.

"I need to take a bath," she said.

Damn my clumsiness. Had I not stepped on the fishing pole that seemed to magically appear out of no where, I could have sneaked passed him and followed the river until I came to a suitable bathing spot. If I ever got my hands on that pole it would burn in a fire!

"And how do you propose to do that?" asked the elf, a teasing hint in his voice.

I paused a moment. This was brilliant. I could feel the heat rushing into my cheeks as I thought about how he would reply to my answer. He would either go along with it and make sure I didn't do anything dumb, or...I shuddered at the thought. There was no way he was going to see more than he already had! Not now, not ever!

"Well? I'm waiting."

"I was going to follow the river until I came to a suitable spot," I replied matter-of-factly. He chuckled.

"Wouldn't it just be easier if I were to--"

"No, no, no," I replied before he could finish. "I would rather you _not_ see more than you already have," I said while sending him what I thought was a death glare, but he just laughed it off.

"Well, alright. Let me go get something for you to change into and some extra bandages and ointments just in case."

He vanished into the tent and emerged moments later with a small bag. He handed it to me and then let forth a sharp whistle. From behind the tent came a horse covered in dark plate and leather armor. One would say it was a normal horse, aside from the blue-white hooves and the eyes. It's eyes were almost the same color as it's master's. Skulls were hung from the side of it's saddle. It was a frighting thing to look at. "Don't worry," he said as her walked over to it and petted it. "She's not as mean as she looks."

He took the bag from me and hung it from one of the spikes coming out of the horse's armor behind the saddle. "Come on, she doesn't bite," he said as he pat the saddle. I slowly walked toward the horse and grabbed onto the saddle. With a little help, it wasn't very difficult to get on. I thought he was going to hop on behind me, but instead, he grabbed the reins and pulled the horse along side him. I was thankful he was being a gentleman.

We walked along the river in silence for a while, each of us keeping our thoughts to ourselves. I was observing our surroundings with interest, hopping that I had been here before and that something would remind me of anything I had forgotten, but that wasn't happening, so eventually I gave up. It still bothered me that I couldn't remember anything. I sighed. Well, I guess now would be a better time than any to start making new memories. As I was about to ask the elf what his name was, that feeling that something was off hit me again. Besides the fact that he had blue hair and blue eyes, I still couldn't place it. Maybe it wasn't how he looked, but his presence. Yeah, there was definitely something off there. His words and actions seemed trustworthy, but there was something about him that just gave me chills. It was like I could trust him, but then again I couldn't. There was probably a million questions I could ask him, and probably would have, if he hadn't spoken first.

"How long do you plan to stare at me like that?" he asked, not stopping.

Heat rushed to my cheeks as I turned my head the other way and mumbled an apology to him. He just chuckled. I turned my head back toward him.

"I never did catch your name."

He stopped in his tracks and turned around on his heals. "How rude of me!" he exclaimed, a smile forming on his face. He let go of the reins for a moment, walked over to me and grabbed my hand off of my lap. "Thaladona Tempest, but call me Thal," he said kissing my hand. For the third time that day I felt the blood rush into my cheeks. "A pleasure meeting you, madame." He grabbed the reins once more and led the horse on as I mentally cursed at him.

After what felt like an eternity, we reached the lake. In the middle sat a large tree that looked as if it was trying to regrow. An image danced across my mind as I spoke without thinking. "The world tree...?" Thal looked at me for a moment.

"So you remember this place?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I only remember seeing it before, but it looked different then...Alive.."

_'She knew what the tree looked like before it was destroyed? How old is she exactly?' _Thought Thal to himself.

Thal grabbed the pack from behind the horse and set it on the ground next to him. The he stretched his arms out and I slid off the horse's saddle into them. He set me down onto the ground gently and picked up the bag next to him.

"Here," he said handing it to me. "There's a change of clothes in there, ointments, and new bandages in there." Thal pointed off into the distance. "Over there is a nice place to bathe. It's nice and secluded, so no one will see you," he said with a smirk. I took the bag from him and headed in that direction.

He was right. There was a small portion of the lake that stemmed off from the rest of it into a small pool big enough to bathe in. I looked around once more just to make sure he hadn't followed me and began to undress. After neatly folding the skirt and setting is beside the bag, I started taking off the bandages as fast as I could. Shortly after I slowly lowered myself into the water. It was a bit chilly at first, but after a while it seemed to warm up. I dunked my head under the water several times to make sure I had cleaned it as best I could. Then I started to wash the rest of my body. The wind seemed to be whistling as it blew across the top of the water. The song it sang seemed to be familiar to me, so I started to hum along, each note coming to me one after another. The trees started to shake their leaves as to join in too. I stopped humming and started singing. I felt so relaxed, so free, as if I hadn't a care in the world. The song seemed to stop suddenly, as the bushes near by started to rustle. I quickly made sure that only my head was visible.

"Thal? Is that you?" I called. No answer. "That's not funny, Thal, come out this instant!"

The bushes rustled again, but it wasn't Thal that came out. From the bushes emerged a large brown bear. On two legs it could have easily been taller than me by two feet. I didn't know what else to do, so I did the only thing I could think of. I screamed.

He swore it had been at least an hour, but the sun disagreed with him. It had only been twenty minutes at the most. He let out a sigh. Hopefully she would be back by the time he had finished collecting some of the berries. As he returned to where he had left Brusha to graze, he noticed she still wasn't back. She couldn't have been that dirty, right? He placed the berries in a small sack he carried with him. As he was about to go search for more, he heard a scream. Without thinking, he dashed off to the place he had pointed her to. Brusha didn't follow him, she continued to graze oblivious to her master's panic. It only took him a minute before he could see her.

"What's wrong?" he called to her as he came closer. Upon reaching the edge of the lake, he was no longer staring at her, but at the bear on the other side of the small pool of water. He cursed himself for not bringing along his Runeblade. He couldn't take a bear on with only his fists.

"Get out of the water," Thal said to the Night Elf.

"What? No, are you insane? I'm not getting out of the water with you standing right there!" she replied.

"Seeing you naked is the last thing on my list of things to do right now. It's either get out of the water, or become that bears next meal."

Before the elf could even argue, the bear put one paw into the water and then another.

"Get out of the water, Now!" Yelled Thal, but it was no use. She was paralyzed with fear. Before long, the bear's body was in the water and he was swimming toward her. _"Damn it!" _Before he could even move, the bear was right next to her, sniffing her.

I was so scared I couldn't even move. It seemed vaguely like this had happened before somewhere. Before I could register what I was doing, I felt my hand connect with the fur on the back of the bear's neck. The bear seemed to growl in approval.

"_I liked your song. It was really nice," _A voice said.

"_Wh-what?" _I replied. _"Who said that?" _

"_I did." _said the voice again. The bear stopped growling for a moment and looked at me. I looked around. It seemed as if everything around me had come to a standstill. This was definitely something to go in my growing book of Things That Just Don't Fit.

"_You? Are you the bear?" _It growled in approval yet again.

"_Where did you learn that song?"_

"_I don't know,"_ I replied, _"I just sang along with the wind."_

"_I was having a terrible day until I heard you sing. I came to thank you for cheering me up," _the bear said_._

"_Uh, your welcome," _I replied. Everything seemed to return to normal, as the bear turned around and headed for the edge of the water. It climbed out and shook itself dry before walking off back in the direction it came.

"What the hell did you think you were doing!?" I heard Thal yell at me. I cringed. There was more anger in his voice than anything else, and it scared me.

"I...I don't know.." I replied without looking at him.

"Don't you know you could have been killed? This time there would have been nothing I could do to help you!"

I did not like him yelling at me. With each word he threw at me, there was some part of me, the part that didn't seemed to trust him one bit, that wanted to kill him right then and there, and that scared me even more. It was like meeting the bear awoke something in me that I had no idea had even been there, but there was a lot I didn't know about myself. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I whipped around and gave him a death glare. This time he shut up.

"I'm not dead okay? I'm fine! Now will you shut up?" I roared at him. That seemed to make him cringe back a bit. After a while, he turned around and left without another word. I sat in the water for a few more moments before finally climbing out. I dried myself off with some of the cloth in the small bag and began to put the ointment onto the wounds that still hurt. After wrapping half of the wounds (I was still to pissed off to actually care if they reopened or not) I pulled the dress out of the bag. I marveled at it. The material was so soft under my fingers. I couldn't tell what it was made from, but who ever made it did so with care. It was light green in color, just like the skirt I was previously wearing. The sleeves fanned out at the end so there was plenty of room for my hands. There were small yellow threads here and there each sparkling when held in the light the right way. I threw it on over my head. It seemed to fit perfectly. Again I marveled at the reflection of myself in the water. If Thal cared so much as to give me this, I supposed I should probably apologize. I picked up the rest of my things and headed back to where Thal would be waiting.

When I could finally see him, he had his back turned to the direction I would be coming from, his hands seemed to be crossed against his chest. I let out a sigh. I thought about what I would say in my head as I approached him. When I was in ear shot, I spoke up.

"Thal--" was all I was able to say before I was interrupted.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you like that," he apologized. "I get so worked up about things like that, I just didn't want anything else to happen to you."

That was the first time I saw any emotion at all from him. He was so sincere, the look on his face hardly suited him at all.

"Thal, no, I'm sorry for snapping at you. You were only trying to make sure I was safe," I replied. "Thank you, by the way."

His eyebrows lifted a tad. "What for?"

"For caring enough to give me this dress," I said as I lifted the bottom of the dress just a bit.

"You like it? I made it while you were recovering. I knew it would look good on you and I was right!"

"Wait, you made this?" If anything I wouldn't have guessed he was a tailor. I looked over the dress again, looking for some flaw but found nothing.

"Yeah, what I found you in was beyond repair so I had to get rid of it, sorry."

"No, no! That's alright. I like this very much. Thank you." I said as he helped me back into the saddle.

"You're welcome, my lady," he said kissing my hand once more. Damn him and his ability to make me blush! He smirked and grabbed the reins.

Halfway through the ride home, I was jerked out of my thoughts about my past when Thal asked me something.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

Thal chuckled and cleared his throat. "I asked if you've been able to remember your name yet."

I hadn't really thought about that much. I suppose I should have given it more thought, seeing as how I didn't want him to address me as "Madame", or "My Lady" every time he wanted to talk to me.

"I haven't really given it much thought to be honest," I told him.

"So you would prefer it if I continued giving you titles?" he teased.

"Not really, but I suppose I don't mind. I would rather you call me by my name though."

"And that would be..?"

I sighed. "Well, what do you want to call me?"

He seemed to give it some thought before finally giving me an answer. "How does Irina sound?"

That name didn't seem to roll off my tongue like I wanted. So I shook my head. "Nelena?" That one was better, but I didn't think it fit me. "What about Xaxas?"

"Where did you get that name from?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Well, what do you want to be called?" he asked me.

This I had actually put some thought into. There were a few names that went through my head, but one seemed to come to mind more often then others.

"Coria," I replied, happy with the name I had picked.

"Coria? You know that's a Blood Elf name, right?"

"I know, but it has a nice feeling to it."

"Then Lady Coria it is!" Thal decided.

I rolled my eyes at him. Inside I was thankful he had found me and saved me from death. That word...Something about that one word sent so many emotions to mind that I didn't know where the came from. I felt a chill go down my spine as I thought of what that word could have possibly meant for me. It was thanks to Thal I was still here. Yet, some part of me, some small forgotten part still distrusted and maybe even hated him. As I looked down at him again, I wondered why I felt like that. What could I have possibly gone through in my life to make me feel this way towards him? Was it just him, or was it every one like him too? It was thoughts like this that I feel asleep with in the back of my mind as I fell asleep that night. Whether I wanted to regain my memory, or make a whole knew one for myself was still a mystery. Only time would tell.

* * *

"What do you mean you let her go!?" shouted an extremely pissed off man as he strangled the necromancer before him.

"I'm sorry......Kel'thuzad said......her memory....destroyed..." said the necromancer trying to get air into his lungs. The Lich King tossed him to the ground.

"Where is the necromancer who sent her through the portal!? I WANT TO SEE HIM NOW!"

The necromancer on the ground coughed and wheezed trying to regain precious air before speaking again. "He was killed with the last batch of the scourge we sent out sir," replied the extremely scared necromancer. Without a second thought, the Lich King killed the cowering necromancer.

"FIND HER! SEARCH ALL OF AZEROTH AND OUTLAND! I DON'T CARE HOW LONG IT TAKES, FIND HER AND BRING HER TO ME! DEAD OR ALIVE!" yelled the Lich King through out all of Icecrown Citadel. If she wasn't already dead when they found her, she would be, sooner or later. He would make sure of that himself.

* * *

**Chapter 4...The LONGEST chapter for ANY story I have ever written. I really didn't want to end it, but if I didn't it would have taken forever to read! Please Review, because I love getting your feedback. If you're just going to say negative things, please make them creative and not just "Wow your story sucks." Please let me know how I can make it better for you. Again review and check out the poll I have on my user page!**


	5. The Almost Perfect Night

**Chapter 5: The Almost Perfect Night**

**(Insert Disclaimer here)**

It had been almost two weeks since Gimbly had last seen her beloved Druid friend. Every day she would try to mess with her Alchemy concoctions hopping Seth would come up from behind her like always and scare her, causing her to spill precious chemicals all over. Unfortunately, that day never came and she began to loose interest in her potions. As the days dragged on, she hopelessly hopped for Seth to return. Her body had not turned up, so there was still a chance she was alive. But there was also the chance that Arthas had resurrected her as one of those retched Death Knights.

Seth had been Gimbly's only real friend out in the frozen wastes. When she had arrived, she was shy, closed, and rarely conversed with others. Luckily for Gimbly, she had arrived after the scourge attack on the previous encampment. Had she arrived a day sooner, she would have more than likely been killed in the massive attack. Gimbly knew next to nothing about the environment that surrounded her. When she had ran out of Frost Lotus for some of the more advanced potions she'd been working on, she quickly learned where to find some and headed off, thinking her gnomish inventions would be enough to protect her from anything she encountered.

Oh, how wrong she was. The swarm of ghouls seemed to come from out of no where, and they tore through her robot body guards like they were made out of soggy paper. Gimbly tried to defend herself with what magic she had learned before coming to Icecrown, but her spells either fizzled out or didn't phase the ghouls at all. They clawed and tore at her skin, opening many wounds that would have seemed like small cuts to any other race. Her thin cloth clothes were hardly any form of armor, and were easily destroyed. Just when all hope was lost and it seemed as if she would be devoured, the druid came from out of no where. At first, Gimbly didn't realize what the dark blur was that seemed to be defending her. She thought it was another ghoul that had come to share in the spoils of it's brothers. Only when she was being lifted off the lifeless ground did she realize she was being carried by a Druid.

Seth had taken her back to camp immediately. She personally made sure Gimbly fully recovered, all the while befriending the mischievous gnome. Of course, she scolded Gimbly on how foolish she had been and how she easily could have been killed, but she also praised her, if only a little, for being brave enough to face the unknown. The two found they had much in common, such as their reasons for being there and the fact that they both loved Alchemy. Seth was a skilled herbalist and had told Gimbly if she ever needed any herbs that her personal stock was always open. It was shortly after that Seth found out just how easy it was to sneak up on the unsuspecting gnome, and had began the routine of doing so often.

Gimbly missed her one true friend very much. Each morning she would visit the healer's quarters to see if she was there, and every day she was disappointed. All the evidence pointed to Seth being long gone, but something in her heart wouldn't give up. She hopped with her whole being that her heart was right.

* * *

Everything was dark and cold. I couldn't see anything and everything was quiet. Then I heard a laugh. At first, it seemed familiar. The laugh became louder and louder, growing colder and more malicious all the while. "Who's there?" I called out, only to be answered by the laughing. The sound of metal clad boots hitting the floor sounded off in the distance. A voice whispered into my ears. With the laughing and the footsteps drawing ever closer, I began to panic and didn't catch anything the voice said. My whole body began to shake with fear and I ran. I ran blankly toward the darkness trying to escape it all. It seemed like forever until I came to the frame of a door. There was a large figure standing in front of it. The first thing I recognized were the blue eyes. "Thal!" I exclaimed, quickening my pace. The figure began to grow in size and only too late did I realize it wasn't Thal, but someone else. The man was clad with dark plate armor. His eyes seemed to be smoking out of his helmet, and his breath came out as fog in front of his face. He held a long, blue, jagged blade in his hand. As I looked upon him with fear, an odd sense of familiarity hit me. He raised his sword above his head as he spoke to me. "I'm coming for you, Druid!" I closed my eyes as the blade came down upon me.

I woke up with a jolt, sweat trickling down my face. That was the third nightmare I had had in the past few days. Each dream was the same, with minor differences. At first, I didn't think it was anything to worry about, but now I was beginning to reconsider. There had to be a reason I was having these recurring dreams. It wasn't the fact that I was having the dreams that was really worrying me. It was how they all seemed so real. They seemed more like visions then dreams, really. The man in my dreams was another thing. At some point in time, I knew I had seen him, but where and who he was I couldn't quite figure out. As of late, I had been thinking about my past so much it got to a point where I would become so frustrated with it I would have to leave Thal's presence just so I could calm myself down.

That usually resulted with me crying for a short while. It was the only way I could deal with the stress of my own thoughts, and I usually felt better afterwards. The first time I had become stressed out about this, I almost let my tears flow down my cheeks in front of Thal. It was odd. I didn't think crying in front of him would be such a big deal, but for whatever reason it seemed as if by crying I would be showing some sort of weakness. For what ever reason, I didn't like that idea at all. Thal seemed worried about me and that was probably because I hadn't told him about the dreams. I was pretty sure he didn't know anything about them at all. After I assured him I was fine, I wandered off into the surrounding forest. It was so odd; I felt more at home there than I did back at the camp. Nature seemed to embrace my presence and I could speak my mind freely. My burdens and troubles would all be relieved from me by just sitting next to any tree and just speaking my mind. When I returned back to camp, I always felt so refreshed.

I quietly threw my legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. It was dark in the tent, but my eyes easily adjusted to the lack of light. Silently I walked over to the desk near the entrance and tossed on the shirt and pants that were hanging over the chair. I didn't bother to put any boots on. My body had fully healed in the past week and a half, so there was no need to protect any wounds from reopening. I quickly braided my hair into two braids and tossed them each over my shoulders. I walked outside of the tent into the crisp morning air. The sun was not yet up, and neither was Thal nor Brusha. The corners of my mouth formed into a small smile as I quickly dashed toward the forest without a sound.

She had snuck off again! That sighed as he rose from his makeshift cot. He was starting to get worried about her. Almost Every morning for the past few days she would sneak off before dawn and wouldn't return until after lunch. Sometimes he had almost gone looking for her, but decided against it. Maybe it was best to leave her alone, since that's what it seemed like she wanted. At first, Thal thought she was running of because of something he had said or done. Maybe she was going of to relieve her anger or frustration with him? She always came back seeming refreshed, so maybe that was it. Though, Thal could never recall anything he might have done to make her upset, aside from the occasional "My Lady" comment. He didn't think that was enough to make her upset though.

Thal stood up and stretched. Another morning, another day of planning. He hadn't mentioned any of this to Coria, but for the last couple of days he had been planning the fastest route out of Hyjal. There was a buzz of activity that seemed to stir in him from out of no where, and he didn't know why. The only thing he could think of was that his ties to the Lich King hadn't been as shattered as he had thought. Sure, he had his free will and could no longer hear the Lich King's voice in his head, but maybe he could still feel him some how. It seemed crazy, but Thal had always trusted his instincts, even in death, and they were telling him he had to leave. Soon it would no longer be safe.

Thal cooked Brusha and himself some breakfast and cleaned up a bit. He organized most of his belonging as neat as he could make them, so they wouldn't overcrowd each other when he put them away and got ready to leave. After cleaning for a few hours, he took a quick bath and returned to finish planning the route to leave. Of course, Thal had to have put down camp in the spot farthest away from the only exit from this place. If they didn't run into any trouble, it would only take them half a week to exit Hyjal if they used the path Thal had use to get here. Though, with the winds being rougher the higher they climbed, they could be slowed down a bit in certain spots...

How had all these leaves gotten in my hair? I hadn't climbed any trees today, yet they seemed to be everywhere! As I pulled one out, two more seemed to take it's place. It was too frustrating to pull them all out, so I just gave up. My hair had come undone from its braids and had fallen behind my shoulders. It had grown in length, and was now almost down to my hips. I had swore yesterday it had only been to my shoulders.

Late in the evening, I walked the familiar path I had made over the past couple of days listening to the song of the forest all the while. I was in such a wonderful mood! This trip to the forest had been the most invigorating yet, and I was eager to spread my mood to Thal. The forest's song died down as I exited and found myself looking at what this morning had been camp. Several small bags were pilled up neatly next to each other where the fire pit once was. The log that had made an excellent couch was now rolled off to the side, and the extra fish that were usually hanging from the pine tree were now gone. What was Thal up to?

I gracefully made my way over to the tent that probably wouldn't be around for much longer. My ears picked up the sounds of someone mumbling to themselves, but I couldn't make out any words. I pulled the tent flap back and stepped inside.

"Thal, what's going..." I lost the last word in my head as I looked at him. He was bent over what remained of the desk looking at some piece of paper. What really caught my attention, was his feet. His feet were not on the ground! He wasn't touching solid ground!

"How are you doing that?" I asked, still staring.

He turned to me, a quizzical look on his face. Following my eyes, he looked down. "Oh, that," he replied, slowly his feet touched the ground. "Sorry if it startled you," he replied, rolling up the paper he had previously been looking at. "I tend to do that when I'm deep in thought."

I looked at him still a little confused. "I was a priest before I died," he said walking out of the tent.

"Before you...Oh, right." I had forgotten that he had died before he was resurrected as a Death Knight. I had been a bit curious one day and had decided to ask him why his hair was blue. He didn't go into much detail, but he gave me some back story about how it was because he was a Death Knight. Of course, I was even more curious, so he went into a bit of that too. I didn't know the whole story, but I knew enough to understand. "So what are you doing?"

"Packing up," he replied.

"Why? I thought we were going to stay here longer."

Thal sighed. "Well, we would have, but something came up." He walked out of the tent and I followed.

"What do you mean, 'Something came up'?"

"I can't really explain it, Coria." He placed the paper in one of the bags and reentered the tent. I sighed, well, that was all I was going to get out of him for a while. I decided it was best if I just found something to do while he finished up. I would have helped, but I really didn't know where anything went, so I probably would have just gotten in the way.

* * *

It wasn't until after nightfall that Thal finished packing everything away. Coria had spent the majority of her time just watching him. Every now and then he would glance at her, and a shiver would run down his spine. To Thal, she almost looked like a cat waiting to pounce on her prey. She studied his every move and it was starting to freak him out a bit. He swore if the conditions had been different from what they were, she would have pounced on him from her perch long ago and the two would have battled to the death. Thankfully, that wasn't the case.

Finally finished, Thal sat himself down by the river that ran right next to where there camp had previously been. He must have been deep in thought, because he didn't even notice Coria sit down next to him.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" she asked.

Startled, Thal turned to her. "What?" he asked.

"That," she replied, pointing out onto the water.

That hadn't even noticed it until she mentioned it. The light from the full moon shone upon the still river, making it shine like a thousand diamonds. The other side of the river bank seemed to be covered with pine trees as still as the night itself. Small fireflies which seemed to glow like stars danced upon the lake, inviting whoever wanted to to join them in there dance. There seemed to be music, not made by any instrument, but nature itself. It was like something from out of a fairytale. At that moment, Thal, being the flirt he was, had a brilliant idea. Slowly he picked himself up, and turned toward Coria.

"May I have this dance?" he asked, extending his hand to her.

Coria looked at him for a moment, unsure of what he was going to do. Cautiously, she put her hand in his and allowed herself to be pulled up. Slowly he led her to the river's edge. She thought he would stop there, but instead he kept going. He tightened his hand around hers as if to assure her that she wouldn't get wet. Closing her eyes tight, but still following him, she took a step off solid ground. To her surprise, she didn't get wet. She slowly opened her eyes and looked to her bare feet. There was ice underneath them. Again she was surprised that it was not cold to the touch and where ever she stepped the ice would appear. Thal lead her to the very center of the wide river and stopped.

Slowly, he intertwined his fingers with hers and placed her hand upon his shoulders. Finally he placed his other hand on her back and slowly began leading her. Coria tried to avert her gaze from his eyes by looking down at her feet seeming amazed, but somehow she always ended up looking into his pools of aqua. She could feel the heat slipping into her cheeks the longer she looked at him. He quickened the pace just a tad. If one would have been watching them, they would have swore they were dreaming. His movements were so graceful, and Coria somehow managed to keep up with them just as gracefully. The fireflies danced around them and the full moon acted like a spot light. All eyes were on them. The longer they danced, the more Coria found herself enjoying it. She smiled, she laughed, and she even got Thal to smile, if only for a second.

Finally, the music seemed to fade away, and the two were left almost breathless in the middle of the river. Neither of the two realized how close their bodies were together until their dance was done. A small hint of red formed on Coria's cheek as she gazed into Thal's eyes. Slowly, oh so slowly, their faces came closer and closer until they could feel the others breath on their face. Just as Thal was about to steal her lips, his instincts told him he needed to leave; he needed to take Coria and leave now.

"Shit," he cursed.

I blinked open my eyes and looked up at Thal. "What?" I asked.

"We have to go, now," he said. Before I could say anything else, he picked me up and set me over his shoulders in a rushed mannor and then set me down on the edge of the river. Quickly, he called for Brusha and gathered the small pouches he had stacked together earlier. How he could fit so much stuff in such small bags was beyond me, but now was not the time to ask. After quickly strapping the bags to Brusha's saddle, he helped me onto her back and for the first time hopped on behind me.

"Hold on tight," he whispered into my ears.

"To what!" I asked. At that moment, he kicked his heels into Brusha's side and she took of like a tornado. Scenery was passing by my eyes so fast it made me nauseous. I closed my eyes and held onto Brusha's mane for dear life.

"Where are we going?" I managed to ask.

"Out of here!"

Finally I opened my eyes and was about to demand he tell me just what the hell was going on when I saw them. Two black shadowy figures kept up with our pace. Their eyes were an amber yellow color and black smoke seemed to follow them where ever they went. They had no feet, but seemed to float instead of run. Long arms extended into hands with sharp fingers which would not feel pleasant on ones skin.

"What are those things?" I almost screamed in horror.

"Shades," replied Thal. "The Lich King's look outs."

* * *

He looked out the window from his study at the land he was slowly but surely loosing. Recent events had, for a lack of a better word, pissed him off. Naxxramas had fallen at the hands of some adventurers. Kel'thuzad had been killed in the raid, and now his hold in Dragonblight had all but been destroyed. The Knights of the Ebon Blade were like an annoying fly that he couldn't get rid of. They had taken over The Shadow Vault as one of their main basses of operations. One of the only things he had left was his never ending supply of scourge. Sheer numbers would not keep the heroes of the Alliance and Horde at bay for much longer.

Arthas snarled and threw the endless stack of papers that covered his desk to the floor. While he was disappointed with recent events, he was even more disappointed that the pesky Druid who had managed to infiltrate his lair had not been found. No one but he knew why he was even looking for the silly girl. He knew how fragile memory erasing could be if not done properly. Ones whole memory could return in an instant if presented with the right circumstances. Sure, his necromancers were trained vigorously and told never to make mistakes, but they should have just killed her on the spot! She had seen something only Arthas and Uther himself had ever laid eyes upon. What that girl had seen was Uther's personal journal, describing how Arthas could be brought to a stop. He had sworn he destroyed the damned thing long ago, but somehow it managed to survive. This time he made sure it would never be seen again.

Just as Arthas was about to turn in for the night, there was a furious knocking on his bedchamber door.

"Enter," he spoke.

A Death Knight entered and bowed before his king.

"Why do you disturb me so late at night?" asked the Lich King giving the Death Knight a look that could kill.

"My lord, the shades you sent to Mount Hyjal have found the druid and are in pursuit. Reinforcements are being sent there as we speak."

"Is that all?"

"The druid...She's traveling with one of the Death Knights of the Ebon Blade," the Death Knight stuttered out.

For the first time in a long time, the Lich King smiled. It wasn't a warm one, but rather a malicious one that would be followed by death. Arthas dismissed the Death Knight and prepared for bed. Now that that problem was taken care of, he could focus on more important matters. Matters such as punishing the foolish Death Knight that was protecting the only thing between him and finishing off those who opposed him. For the first time in a long time, Arthas slept well.

* * *

**First of all, Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays everyone! God, this chapter gave me a bit of writters block. Thankfully I plowed it right over with my knew Chevy Comero! (LOL I WISH) I hope I did a better job writting Arthas in this chapter. If you have questions that I haven't been able to clear up yet (This is probably the best time to ask since Arthas wont be making another appearance for a while) please feel free to leave a review or PM me and I'll try to get back to you on that! Thanks for reading!**

**Edit: 9-7-10 Corrected minor spelling mistakes and redid a line I didn't like.**


	6. The Part of Me That Wants to Kill You

**Chapter 6: **The Part of Me That Wants to Kill You

**Disclaimer:** Blah blah blah...Dont own Wow *sigh*

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We had been running for the rest of the night and into late morning. I was so tired I almost passed out twice and probably would have had Thal not been there. How he wasn't as tired as me I couldn't even begin to ponder. My brain was running on low energy and all I could think of was the danger we were in and how much I just wanted to go to sleep. I knew when Brusha tired out it would all be over and we would have to fight the shades off. It seemed as if the pair would never tire. I had lost sight of the shades about an hour ago and asked it we were safe, but Thal seemed to not even hear me. Honestly, I was too tired to care. Finally, I gave in and passed out right then and there.

I don't know how I managed to stay asleep, but when I finally woke up I was being carried bridal style in Thal's arms. Brusha was no where to be found so something must have happened.

"Thal, where's Brusha?" I asked looking around as much as I possibly could.

"I'll explain later," he quickly spoke, "right now I need you to climb to the very top of this tree and stay there."

I looked at him with what I assumed to be shock. What could we possibly gain from this? Was he making me some sort of look out?

"What? Thal, how is this--" he cut me off there.

"Listen, you have to trust me! I've managed to put two and two together and I figure the shades aren't after me. That only leaves you. I know this is confusing, but you have to trust me. If you can get to the top, I should be able to lead the shades away from here and then deal with them. I'll be back for you, I promise."

For the first time, my unconscious self seemed to trust him. I nodded in understanding. Before I could even get one foot off the ground, Thal grabbed my hand and embraced me. In all the times I had felt Thal's skin against my own, it had been cold. It was probably one of the reasons I was glad he never hopped behind me on Brusha before all this happened. This time though, his skin was rather warm. He let go and was gone so fast I was left in a daze. Shaking the odd feeling in my stomach away, I gracefully climbed from one branch to the next until I was as high in the tree as I could possibly go without landing on a branch that couldn't hold my weight. The mountains seemed closer to me now then they ever had before. I assumed the exit of Hyjal was close by.

I sat there and waited for what seemed like forever. The adrenaline in my system was now long gone and to be honest, I was starting to get bored. I was also starting to wonder if and when Thal would be back to get me. I heard something coming from a ways away from me. Whatever it was, it wasn't Thal. It sounded like something was being dragged along the underbrush of the forest. Before I could even see what it was, I could smell it. The stench was so foul I thought someone had blown up a gnome experiment that had rotten hippogryph eggs involved. The smell began to get so bad my eyes started to water. It was so strong! I swore I would loose the last meal I had any minute. From below the tree I heard what sounded like gurgling sounds or someone who lacked a jaw or tongue talking. As I looked below I was shocked to see what looked liked zombies standing below me!

As if Elune herself had something against me, just at that moment the wind picked up causing the leaves of the trees to brush right up against my nose. Had I moved to stop my sneeze I would have fallen twenty some feet out of the tree and died right there. Though, quick and painless seemed a much better idea than the slow and painful death I was almost surely going to receive now. As the zombies looked up into the trees and our eyes met, everything from that point seemed to slow down. I could clearly make out each of there movements, no matter how small. As I tried to move I found myself unable to do anything. My vision dimmed and I thought it was all over. They say your life flashes before your eyes when you're looking into the eyes of Death. I supposed that wouldn't happen to me seeing as how I couldn't remember anything from my life. I thought maybe I would be spared any pain that might possibly be restored with facing the memories so far out of my reach. I could feel my body moving, falling, whatever. It didn't matter anymore. I didn't care. If I was going to die now, than I was fine with that. I was fine with it, but something else wasn't.

Out of no where, visions of people, places, objects flashed before my eyes. Names, sounds, smells, feelings, I remembered them all! Arthas, Gimbly, Northrend, decaying flesh, the smell of spices made from Sliverleaf, everything! All of my memories had been restored when my life was threatened. Without even realizing I had done it, I found myself standing on all fours on top of the three ghouls who thought they could kill me. My nose twitched at the smell. It had been a month since I had to endure the stench, but I knew it wouldn't take long for me to get use to it again. So many thoughts rushed through my head and that point it was hard to straighten them all out. My feral instincts had taken over before while my memory returned, and I feared I would have to let them take over once more while I retreated to the back of my mind to sort everything out. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long and I could leave Hyjal and return to Northrend. The last thing I remember is hearing more footsteps and hopping into the nearest tree before I left everything up to my feral instincts.

* * *

Thal had thought there was just the two shades, but he should have known better. When shades find something, you can almost be sure they're just the search party. The real army is never too far away. Thankfully, Thal was making good progress. He was almost positive he had cleared the vicinity of any remaining ghouls. Of course, more were soon to appear if he didn't hurry and retrieve Coria and head to the nearest settlement. Thankfully, Winterspring was a neutral zone, so seeing a Night Elf and Blood Elf together there wouldn't be and odd thing. Now, the only problem was finding Coria. Yeah, Thal had told her to stay put, but he couldn't remember which tree he had told her to hide in! He must have traveled at least a mile away from it following his instincts on where to locate the ghouls. It was almost like a build in tracker that told him when another undead was nearby.

As much as he would have liked Brusha's help on finding her, he still wasn't sure if the area was clear of undead, so it would be safer if she remained hidden. Thal must have been walking around for half an hour before he found the tree he had made a mark in to remind him Coria's tree was nearby. At first, Thal continued on at a jog, but when the smell of Death hit his nose, he ran full speed toward the smell. Had the ghouls found Coria?! She was defenseless! If they had, she was surely a goner and it would all be Thal's fault! He couldn't live with himself if he found her dead. If she was dead, he would have regretted not kissing her when he had the chance the other night.

The scene he stumbled upon was the exact opposite of what he was expecting and he was quite relieved, but confused all the same. The corpses of several ghouls were laying in the underbrush of the forest floor. They seemed to be ripped apart by something sharp, a sword maybe. Thal was almost sure he didn't kill them, so who did? As he looked closer, he saw what appeared to be a spot on the floor where the blood formed a shape. An animal paw print. Thal was again in danger.

Quickly he pulled out his Runeblade just in time to block the attack from a panther who pounced from one of the nearby trees. Thal placed the palm of his hand against the flat end of the blade and pushed the panther off of him, but it just as quickly came back at him. He continued to block the countless swipes from the panther's claws with his sword, each time hearing the song of battle from his sword. There were very few times he could launch an attack himself, they usually missed or barely scratched the panther. Why was it even attacking him? What had he done to provoke it? Maybe it was driven mad by the corruption of the Burning Legion. Though, it didn't look like a corrupted animal. Really, it looked more like...

"Shit!" spoke Thal to no one in particular as he blocked yet another attack from the panther. This wasn't just some random animal, this was a Druid! The odd balls around it's neck confirmed it. Maybe the druid thought Thal was here to try to kill Coria, so he was dead set on protecting her. This wasn't what he needed right now. He didn't want to fight the Druid.

"I don't want to hurt you," Thal tried to reason with it. No luck. "I'm just looking for my friend, Coria."

Hearing the name seemed to make it pause for a short while, but it continued it's attacked afterwards. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no other solution but to harm the Druid.

How the hell was I suppose to sort out my thoughts with all the noise? Even though I couldn't see what was going on, I sure as hell could hear it. At first it wasn't so bad, but after awhile it got louder. I tried to tune it out, but it was hard. I was about to give my feral side full control when I heard my name, or well, the name I had chosen for myself till I remembered my original one. Only one person besides myself knew that name. Thal! When I realized that, the sounds made perfect sense. My feral self had thought Thal was here to kill me, so it attacked him. I had to regain control of myself before something bad happened. It wasn't easy. The panther was the most ferocious of the Druid forms, and without the right training, it would be hard for one to take over once it was so free. Slowly but surely, my vision began to return and I could feel the wind around me and the soil under my paws. Unfortunately, I could also feel Thal's runeblade as it sliced into my shoulder.

I had felt worse, I was sure, but it still hurt horribly. The forced knocked me back a few feet into the tree behind me, causing me to roar in pain. I could feel the warm gooey liquid rush out of the newly made incision. There was no way I was going to be able to walk on it now, and if I changed forms the damage could be even worse.

"I'm sorry," Thal spoke as he lifted his runeblade above his head.

If I wanted to live I had to intervene fast. I could feel the feral side trying to take control again, and if that happened my wound wouldn't be my only problem. I wasn't too good at communicating in my animal forms, but I had to try. I tried to yell at him to stop. It only came out as roars at first, but the more I yelled at him to stop, the clearer it became. It went from roars to what sounded like coughing up a hairball to audible words.

"Stop, please Thal! Stop!" I screamed at him.

He seemed to understand, because he paused and shortly after dropped his runeblade all together.

"C-c-Coria?" He spoke, his voice shaky.

I slowly nodded my head, afraid that if I opened my mouth I would let out roar of pain. My feral side had subsided and now the full force of the pain hit me like a Kodo. Still, it wasn't the worst I had ever felt. It did make me wince and I couldn't help but let out a low growl when Thal tried to reach out to me.

"Sorry," I whispered.

"Sorry? Coria, I almost tried to kill you and you're the sorry one!? Coria, I didn't know and if I had I wouldn't have attacked in the first place!" Thal apologized.

"Trust me Thal, had the circumstances....been different, you'd be dead." I managed to get out.

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind." I looked over my wound. It went from the tip of my shoulder and about half way down my back. I had to have the bare skin showing if I was going to heal this wound, and it wouldn't be easy healing this thing by myself. "Listen, if you're really sorry, help me heal this."

"I don't think my first aid skill is going to be enough to--"

"No, it's not," I cut him off. How dumb could he be? "When I change back to my normal self...I'm going to need you to.." God I really didn't want to say this. Why couldn't it be Gimbly here instead? "I'm going to need you to help me get my shirt off so I can heal this. You have to be fast though, alright?"

I thought he was going to do something perverted, but it seems when the situation calls for it, Thal can actually be serious. Slowly, I began to change back into my normal self. The bones cracked and shifted into their correct positions. My tail dissapeared and my fur retracted into my skin. Once I gave Thal the okay, he carefully removed my shirt. Of course, it was covered in blood and even more blood was coming out of the open wound. With only one hand healing it took longer than it usually would have, but the wound still closed completely. Once I assured him I was absolutely fine, he gave me his cloak and we began walking to where he had hidden Brusha. To my surprise he was unusually quiet, but that was probably for the best. My emotions were going all over the place at the moment, just like my thoughts.

I was certain of two things. The first was I had to get back to Northrend and report my findings to my superiors at any cost and Thal couldn't come. I was very grateful for everything he had done for me, but now I could take care of myself. There wasn't really any more he could do. I didn't need protection, nor a guide since I was raised on this continent. Plus he was horde, so eventually our paths would have to seperate. There was no neutral passage to Northrend. The second was I was falling head over heels for Thaladona Tempest, and I hated every second of it.

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**There ya go! Chapter 6! /woot!** **Yeah, I know it took a while, but hey, here it is! I actually had planned to end it when Thal got attacked by Seth, but I was too into it to end it there. Yeah, I know this one is THE shortest one yet, but if I would have kept going this would have gone all the way to where....well if I said I would be giving it away so neh! Man, reading your own stories is really good inspiration!**


	7. On the Road Again

**Chapter 7: **On the Road Again

**Disclaimer:** I do not own World of Warcraft. It is property of Blizzard Entertainment. The plot and Character's personalitys are mine though.

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During the trek to Everlook, I had managed to organize most of my thoughts...Sort of. First of all, I made sure Thal kept his distance from me at all times. There would be no more physical contact between the two of us from here on out. Also, talking would be kept to a minimum. I had set my mind to the current task at had. There was no way I was going to be side tracked now. Eventually, we would have to go our separate ways, and once we had it would be good riddance. At least, that's what I hoped. Thinking it over as Thal and I made our way through the cold zone of Winterspring, me never shifting from my bear form as it was the only thing keeping me warm, I realized over the past few years I had been stationed in Northrend I had become a shell of my former care free self. My mind had become one big battle strategy, keeping me from showing my true self and over time I became just like many other's scared by death. I rarely showed any emotion and I tried to keep my feelings hidden from others. Getting to the point, I was almost like some sort of war machine. While before I wouldn't have cared much for the revelation, now it was a bit disturbing.

I realized I was now on the path to breaking the mask I had hid myself behind for so long. During the time I spent with Thal before I had regained my memories, I had gotten back in touch with nature. Now that that part of my formal self had surfaced, there was no use in trying to subdue it again. It was safe to say I was now half my former self and half the machine death had made me. Unfortunately, this lead to my druid instincts and my finely tuned warrior instincts to conflict with each other, making me see things from two different perspectives. Normally, this wouldn't be a bad thing. But when it came to the subject of the Death Knight who was proudly ridding his mount beside me it was a whole different story. Part of me couldn't bare to even breathe the same air he did, while the other part wanted to blush every time I caught him glancing my way. It was very confusing to say the least. While I had the two sides agreeing on most subjects, this was one neither side seemed to be able to let go of. No matter how much I persuaded, neither side would give an inch, so I was stuck like this for who knows how long! It was really aggravating.

"We're here," said Thal, bringing my mind back to reality.

Everlook was like Gadgetzan. There was a high wall surrounding the city protecting the inner residents, huts and buildings here and there, and your occasional goblin. The only difference was instead of sand blanketing the floor, there was snow. It was your average inland goblin settlement. The only thing I wanted to do with this place was buy supplies and take the fastest hippogryph out of here. I didn't really care for this place, but that was because of all the Yetis. Of course, I had forgotten I had no money of my own so Thal had to purchase all the supplies. I found it odd that he got so much stuff, but I just passed it off as him trying to impress me or something.

Finally, I deemed myself ready to continue on _my _mission. As I was headed toward the hippogryph keeper to schedule a ride from here to Darnassus, Thal intercepted me.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Purchasing a flight to Darnassus, why?"

Thal gave me a quizzical look. It was like the words that came out of my mouth were from a different language or something.

"You didn't believe we could actually travel together until Northrend, did you?"

"That's why I bought all those supplies."

Never in my life did I ever think I would find someone so...so...Ugh! Could Thal seriously be _that _naïve? Well, maybe this was my fault in some way, though I would never admit it out loud. I probably should have set Thal straight before we got here. He probably still believed I needed protecting. I inwardly sighed.

"Thal, listen. I know you might think that I still need protecting, but I have my memories back now. I'm a seasoned warrior, even if my strength lies in healing."

"You didn't think I knew that?" asked Thal. Well, really I didn't. "I know you don't need my protection anymore, but traveling together seems better than alone."

I sighed. He was beating around the bush. "Alright Thal, spit it out. What's on your mind?"

His eyes shifted around nervously for a few minutes. The wind picked up and I shivered. I didn't have an extra layer of fat to protected me like I did in my bear form, and my clothes weren't quite adequate for the weather.

"Okay okay. Now that the Lich King's looking for you, and since his shades saw the both of us, I'm pretty sure he's going to be coming after me as well. While I can handle the odd ghoul every now and then, if he sends enough to overwhelm me I'm a goner. The same could be said for you. You can fight so long, but how long will your strength last, Coria?"

"My real name is Seth, by the way." I could see he was about to ask questions, but I was sure they could wait for another time. "So, what's your point?"

"All I'm saying is I think it would be safer to travel together. That way, if he does decide to send a small army after us we'd at least stand a chance. I've got your back, Seth. Do you have mine?"

As much as part of me hated to admit, he did have a point. While I was a good fighter, there was no way I could swallow more than I could chew. For once, my two sides were in agreement. Thal would have to travel with us, but there was no way we would travel by foot. As the wind picked up again, I motioned for Thal to follow me into the inn so I could warm up and we could discuss our plan of action.

Since we were currently positioned at Everlook, the fastest way to Northrend would be via zeppelin. The problem with that was only Horde were aloud to use the zeppelins. While I was very good at sneaking around in cat form, there was no way I would be able to stay hidden aboard for very long. That plan wasn't totally out of the picture though. Thal had suggested I might be able to sneak on as a hunter's pet, but I was extremely skeptical about that. There really didn't seem to be a way we could both travel to Northrend together. It seemed like no matter what, we were going to be separated, and that wasn't a good thing. If we were a part to long, one of us could run into trouble and be delayed. If that were to happen, the other would have no way of knowing.

"Damn!" whispered Thal as he leaned back in the wooden chair that he was sitting in. "It looks like no matter what, we're going to have to go separate ways!"

"Yeah, I--" I stopped mid sentence as I realized something neither of us had ever thought of.

"What?" Asked Thal.

"Cultists," I whispered out. "We didn't even think of that! What if Arthas had placed cultists either on the boat or zeppelin? And if not there, maybe at the landing docks or around that general area?"

We sat in silence for a while, both of us trying to think of ideas around that little problem. I didn't think there was one, seeing as how the only means of transportation to Northrend was via Alliance boat or Horde zeppelin.

"I've got it!" That shouted, drawing attention to us. I wanted to whack him over the head, but that would have drawn the attention of the Everlook bruisers, and that wasn't something we needed right now.

"Quiet down!" I glared at him. "What's your idea?"

He smirked at me. "Pirates."

"Pirates?" I repeated.

"Sure! Pirates are neutral right? Most of them have boats, right? Well, with a little 'persuading' I bet we could get them to take us straight to Northrend no questions asked! The Lich King wouldn't even see it coming! We could step right onto the shores with out him even knowing we're there!

"Damn. That's a good plan. Why didn't I think of that?" I asked, not even realizing I had said it aloud.

"Because my dear, you have been trained to think like the enemy, while I on the other hand like to think out of the box. Now here," he said digging around in one of his bags, "take these gold coins and get yourself a room. It's getting dark, and I think the flight masters aren't taking any more riders."

I looked at the gold on the table and scooped it up. "What about you?" I asked.

"I'll get a separate room. It wouldn't seem right if a Night elf and a Blood elf were sharing a room, now would it? Although, if you wanted..."

I stood up slamming my fists onto the table attracting attention yet again. "No, separate rooms will be wonderful. I need some time away from_ you_."

I could feel him smirking at me from behind. There were times when that guy really got on my nerves. I looked down at the coins in my hand as I walked to the innkeeper. And then there were other times when the things he did seemed too kind.

For the first time in two years I slept well. I even had a dream about being back home in Darnassus with my brother. After I freshened up, Thal and I went over our plan once again. The closest place where we might be able to find some pirates would be Rachet. Once we were ready, the two of us would take the flight path from here to there. Thal assumed it would be pretty late by then, so we would have to rent more rooms at the inn. I was going to ask Thal if money was going to be a problem, but from all the bags he was carrying, I guessed we could pawn a few things if we needed to. I wouldn't be against making some potions and selling those if I needed to either.

After talking to the flight master, I learned I would only need to stop once before I reached Rachet, and it would only take two or three hours. That would leave me with time to spare after I landed. I hoped Thal's flight would be just as fast.

* * *

Unfortunately for Thal, his flight wasn't as fast as he would have liked. His first stop was in Orgrimmar. Now, he knew there would be some air traffic, and it might take him half an hour or so to get onto another wyvern and get back on his way. Upon his arrival however, he learned that the city was even more crowded than he had expected. It would take _two_ whole hours for another flight to be available for him. Thal sighed. He was stuck in this god awful city for another _two whole hours._ What the hell was he suppose to do?

Thal wondered around The Drag for awhile, looking at a few items vendors here and there were selling. As he passed various huts, the smell of leather hit his nose. It was really a nasty smell and he hurried out of that area as fast as he could. Thinking of leather made him think of Seth. While she did like the clothes he had made for her, even if he hadn't told her so, they wouldn't be appropriate for travel. As he skimmed through the merchants wares, he decided that they wouldn't quite be enough. He had a thought about skimming the Auction House, but things on there were usually way overpriced. Then again, he could always have a leather worker make them for him, but he didn't have the materials on him at the moment, and that lead him right back to the auction house. Maybe he would get lucky and run into one of his friends who was a leather worker. He mentally laughed. _"What are the odds of that happening?"_

Just at that moment, he managed to bump into someone, knocking himself down onto the ground.

"Ey! Watch where ya...Tal?"

Thal looked up. He only knew one troll, and the odds of him running into her right now were so low, he didn't even think it possible. By some random twist of fate, there she was standing in front of him in all her carrot-top glory.

"Hey Carrot-Top!" he greeted her with a smile, taking her extended hand and pulling himself up. "Where's snowball?" he asked.

"Her name be Scarlet, Tal, and mine ain't Carrot-Top neither!" replied the troll.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm only teasing Hinter So, what are you doing in the big city? You were more of a country girl last I remember."

The troll crossed her arms. "Der be so much air traffic, I ain't been able to leave dis city for two days! So, I decided ta get some trainin' done while I'm 'ere," replied the troll mater-of-factly.

"Wait, Hinter, you're a leather worker right?" asked Thal.

The question was a bit off topic, but the hunter nodded her head anyway.

"I was wondering..."

"Where the hell is he?" I asked to no one in particular. I had landed over an hour ago and quite frankly, I was bored. Sure, I could have gone to scout for some pirates, but what if Thal had showed up while I was gone? Or what happened if I had found the pirates, but they wouldn't negotiate? If I had to be honest with myself, the main reason I was waiting for him was because pirates scared the living hell out of me. They were one of the only things that did. Growing up around Darkshore I had experienced my fair share of pirate raids. While usually small and warded off quickly, the pirates themselves were scary. Right now I didn't want to think about them.

Just when I had decided I was fed up with waiting and was about to go look for a few herbs, the _lord_ himself finally arrived.

"It's about time! What took you so long?" I asked folding my arms. Without even looking at me, he began digging around in one of his larger bag and pulled out three boxes.

"What's all that?"

"There for you," he said handing them to me.

More stuff? Had I offended him in some way that he thought he needed to get me gifts to set things straight? Well, either way I suppose I wasn't complaining. Taking the first box and setting it down on the table in front of me I opened it up. Inside was a brown leather tunic that I could wear over the silk shirt Thal made me. Under the tunic were black leather pants. These would help a lot on our journey! The continuing boxes held brown leather braces, gloves, and black leather boots. These new clothes would be perfect! I couldn't believe Thal cared enough to buy these for me. As I put them on, I could feel the small boost to my powers. How much had he paid for these?

"Thal, how much did these cost?"

"After this is all over, I owe my friend...Big time."

That's all he said and I smiled. I felt a little better knowing he hadn't spend any of his money on me. I really didn't want to have to owe him anything, but at the rate things were progressing I was probably going to be working off my debt to him for years to come.

* * *

**Seriously, who doesn't hate those Yetis? Okay, well maybe now a days the quest for the yeti furs and stuff is easier, but back in the few months after Bc's launch the drop rate for those items SUCKED! Me and my friend must have spent like three days on that cursed quest chain! BURN THE YETIS!!**

**~viv~ (Squiggles ~ are ftw)**


	8. What Am I Going to do With You LucyLoo?

**Chapter 8:** What Am I Going to do With You, Lucy-Loo?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this story besides the Character's and the plot. The rest belongs to the people at Blizzard Entertainment. (No matter how many points I put in Improved Blizzard, they still don't improve!)

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We got a tip from an anonymous stranger that just south of Ratchet there was a pirate hot spot. As we arrived on the scene, we began to think otherwise. There wasn't a single pirate in sight, nor was there any sign of pirates ever being there in the first place. It was just another stretch of savanna. I let out a sigh as I stretched my limbs. I had been traveling in my cheetah form, and while the heat didn't bother me much, it was taking a toll on Thal. For a second of the trek here, he had been wearing his plate armor, though soon after he had taken most of it off. Now he was only wearing his plate pants, a silk mageweave shirt, and boots. As I began to move forward, I heard a grunt from behind me and turned to see Thal taking off the mageweave shirt he wore. _'Oh Elune, why?!'_ As much as I hated to admit it, a shirtless Thal was a sight to see. His blue eyes and hair stood out against his pale chest. Gorgeous blue marks of power adorned his body and contrasted against his skin as well. He was actually built rather fairly for someone who had been a priest in a past life.

"Do you like?" asked Thal in a teasing tone.

I hadn't even realized I had been staring! I turned my head away from him. I was probably blushing, but thankfully, cheetahs couldn't blush. I let out a low growl and dashed ahead. I couldn't be thinking about this stuff right now! I tried to clear my mind of the image of a shirtless Thal and the thoughts that followed. Before I could get too far how ever, the ground below me gave way, and I fell down into some kind of hole.

Even though I landed on sand, it still hurt. Aside from the pain I was feeling on my legs, I could also feel the sand that was now covering my coat. I stood up and shook most of it off, but it probably wouldn't come off until I washed it all out. As I shifted back into my original form, I looked up to find the opening to the pit surrounded! Where had they all come from!? Again I shifted, taking the form of a panther this time and jumped from the bottom of the hole out. Luckily, these pirates were smart and moved out of the way of my claws. I could hear Thal take out his Runeblade and ready himself for battle. Just as I was about to leap for one of the pirates, a voice stopped me.

"Now just hold on a minute," said a rough bass voice. "We have no quarrel with you. What are ya doing down here in pirate territory?" A tall, bulky man with hair black as the night sky walked out from behind the group of pirates. It was obvious he was the captain. He wore a large hat with the traditional skull and crossbones on it. His hair was tied in a pony tail, and it hung loosely across his shoulder. He had a mass of facial hair covering the area around his mouth. He was rather handsome and not scruffy at all, like most people thought pirates to be. He wore somewhat casual a tire, a loose mageweave shirt with a pair of dark pants and black boots. He had a cutlass attached to his belt, his hands ready to grab it need be.

Thal relaxed, if only a bit. "We're looking for passage to Northrend."

The captain looked at us like we were dumb. "Why would ya be lookin' all the way out here? Don't ya know you could just go to one of yer capital cities and--"

"This is a," he paused, looking at me, "special case. We don't want to alert anyone to our presence."

The captain looked from Thal to me and then back again. "By 'we' ya mean you and yer druid friend, yes?" Thal nodded. The captain scratched his beard in thought. "And I suppose you want us to give you a ride, eh?" I had changed back to my normal self, feeling no immediate threat and nodded. "Well, seeing as I'm in a generous mood, I suppose we could help....For a price of course," said the captain with a mischievous grin on his face.

"What did you have in mind?" asked Thal, putting his sword away.

The captain looked at me and smiled. "My crew and I could use some 'female company'."

I was about to state my opinion on that thought, but Thal spoke before I could.

"I don't mind that," he said looking my way, a grin plastered to his face as well.

There were no bruisers around to stop me this time. With all the power I could muster, I smacked my fist into the back of Thal's head. There was a sickening "WHACK" sound that was almost muffled by the profanity coming from Thal's mouth.

"Guess again," I said, clearly pissed off.

There were a few snickers from the crew who now gathered around their leader who was laughing out loud. Profanity's were still streaming from Thal's mouth, more quietly now, as the captain spoke.

"Ha ha! Alright, alright. I don't like 'em feisty anyway." Clearing his throat, he continued. "Not to long ago, there was a raid on one of our ships docked here by centaur. Normally, they don't come this close to Ratchet, but they did for some reason. That's not my concern though. They stole something very valuable to us that day, and without it, we can't leave port."

I nodded my head, urging him on. Thal was paying attention now too.

"One of our crew members went missing that day. We suspected she was taken prisoner by the centaur. Without her, the ship and her crew can't function properly."

"What's this woman do on your ship, exactly?" asked Thal.

"She's the barmaid."

Seriously? How could a barmaid be so important to a bunch of pirates? My expression must have said it all, because the captain continued to explain.

"With out her, we have no rum! Without rum, we can't very well stay at sea for a long time without returning to buy more. That, and she's the only woman in the whole crew! She keeps us in line. Without her, we'd be arguing so much we'd get nothing done or get to our destination without throwing someone overboard. So, here's the deal. If you find and bring us back our Lucy-Loo, we'll give you free passage to Northrend."

I looked to Thal and he didn't seemed too thrilled about staying in this heat much longer. Personally, I didn't care. I had my cheetah form, and if meant I got to see more of his shirtless upper body, I wasn't complaining.

"Alright, we'll bring your barmaid back as soon as we find her."

The captain and crew gave us a curt nod and wished us good luck. After that, we set out to find her. I wanted to get to Northrend as fast as possible, so I had no patience for walking. Thal couldn't keep up though, so we had to make a quick stop back at Ratchet so he could gather Brusha and the things we had. As we ran around the Barrens, the only real lead we had was that she was being kept at one of the centaur encampments. I knew centaur smelled horrible, so I used my nose to find their camps. The first camp we came across was sheltered in a small oasis southwest of Ratchet. There were only three centaur there and they were hardly a challenge. The search of their camp proved fruitless as Lucy was no where to be seen. Next, we headed northwest following my sense of smell yet again. This time, we came upon a much bigger campsite, with almost four times the centaur. While Thal was all for taking a few of them out, I didn't want any necessary blood shed. That must have come from the healer side of me, I decided.

For the umpteenth time that day, I switched forms to the panther yet again. I silently made my way into the camp, inspecting huts and crates that were open here and there. My search was resulting with failure. Thal had gone around the outsides of the camp. Maybe he would be more successful than I was.

* * *

Keeping an eye out for any centaur that might catch sight of him, Thal carefully made his way around the oasis. While he immediately didn't see any sign of a prisoner, a second trip around the camp sharpened his senses. This time, he saw a cave hidden behind some of the foliage of the oasis. Checking to make sure no centaur were looking or had caught on to him, he silently made his way into the entrance. Thal immediately noticed there was water on the cave floor soaking him up to his ankle. He reached to touch the water and found it freezing cold. Anyone who was put in this for too long would surely gain hypothermia.

He tried to stay silent as he rushed through the cave, but that was impossible. Screwing silence all together, he ran through the cave looking for any signs of life. Whatever had inhabited the cave before the centaur arrived had probably been evicted by now. As he got deeper and deeper into the cave, he came across a large pool of water. It caused him to pause for a split second before he ran right over it. Right around the corner, he halted to a shocking site. Tied to a crudely made cross was who he assumed was Lucy-Loo.

Her head hung low and her auburn hair hung over her shoulders. Her clothes were ragged and torn, an obvious sign she had been beaten. Her skin was turning an unhealthy shade of blue and cuts and bruises adorned any visible skin. Thal quickly untied her and she fell right into his hands. He arranged her bridal style in his arms and headed for the mouth of the cave in a slow jog. When he could see the light from the mouth of the cave, Lucy let out a moan. How a moan that low could attract so many centaurs, Thal was unsure. Somehow, they had been surrounded. Thal couldn't defend himself with Lucy in his hands, nor could he just sit her down and fight.

A feral roar was heard and Seth came pouncing in on a centaur. Thal took that as his sign to get the hell out of there while the centaur were distracted. A few tried to chase him, but were stopped short when Seth attacked them. Getting Lucy and himself onto Brusha was a challenge, but Thal managed. He made sure he had a hold of the girl before he told Brusha to take off. As Thal got farther and farther away from the camp, he could no longer hear the cries of Seth nor the centaur, so he assumed she was following him a ways away. In a few moments they would arrive back at the pirate enclave, so Thal took a minute to study Lucy.

Her injury's were many, but they weren't bad enough she would die from them. From the stains on her clothes, she had lost a lot of blood. That could cause a problem. She was starting to warm up thanks to the blistering sun, so hypothermia wasn't going to be a factor in healing her. Thal brushed her hair back from her face to get a better look at her. He could tell right off the bat she was young, maybe no older than seventeen! What the hell was a girl that young doing with pirates?

He didn't have time to think about it too much, for he arrived back at the pirate enclave shortly after. He called for help while he slid of of Brusha's back. Any available hands made their way towards him along with their captain.

"Is she going to make it, lad?" asked one of the pirates.

Looking her over again while gently setting her on the ground, Thal wasn't too sure. He would have bandaged her wounds by now if he had thought it would do any good. He was sure the pirates didn't have a healer on hand either. What use would one be to them anyway? Lucy probably took care of any injuries the crew or captain sustained. The only way the girl had any chance at all was if Seth was as close as Thal had thought. Time continued to pass by and there was still no sign of Seth. Lucy's breaths became more ragged with each passing second. Thal could feel the life slowly leaving the poor girls body. If only there was something he could do.

"Move aside," said someone from behind. The voice wasn't one he recognized, so he turned to get a look. He was almost positive the sun was getting to him now.

Was he really looking at a talking tree? No, there was no way, he was sure he was hallucinating. It was as tall as him, with arms and legs. It almost looked human. The bark on the tree was an light brown, almost a yellow orange color. There were a few branches shooting from the top of the head, almost like hair, with several leaves growing on each. It's face was long and it's mouth took up most of it's face. Those eyes. Where had he seen those eyes before? As the tree moved past him, he realized where he had seen them.

"Seth?" he called out.

Not looking at him once, she nodded her head. She looked down at Lucy before her whole body began to sway in a counter-clockwise motion. Her hands lit up green as she cast her spell, small leaves dancing within the light. Quickly she threw her hands into the air and a light green light covered Lucy. Thal could see the blood clear up and the larger wounds began to close slowly. Seth threw her hands up again, and a ribbon of green circled around Lucy in a figure eight pattern. The smaller wounds followed suit and closed up as well. Even the bruises began to disappear.

After waiting a short time the girl finally began to stir and the pirates crowded around her. Seth shifted to her normal form for the final time, and fell backwards into Thal's arms.

"You alright?" he asked concern lacing his voice.

"Just tired," she replied with her eyes closed. Thal could understand. She had used up a lot of her energy today. Slowly her breathing became shallow.

_'She must have fallen asleep..'_ Thal noticed.

Careful not to wake her, he positioned himself under one of the randomly placed trees that lined the small shore where the pirates had their ship docked. He carefully moved her so that she was resting peacefully withing his arms. He took note that Lucy was awake and moving around again. She stood near the loading ramp of the ship talking to the captain. After awhile of just staring blankly into the sunset, someone came to notify him that they were ready to depart. He picked Seth up bridal style and boarded the ship. The captain let Thal use the room next to the his cabin to lay Seth in until she woke up. She would be comfortable in there, he was sure. As he reluctantly walked out of the room, he stole one last look at the angelic look upon her face before closing the door and walking down the hallway to seek out the captain.

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**I Love Pixie Sticks and Fun Dip!**


	9. Physical Attraction

**Chapter 9: **Physical Attraction

**Disclaimer:** I'm too lazy to type it..Don't own jack.

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It was the best sleep I'd had in a long time. As soon as I woke up, I realized I was on board the ship and we were already at sea. Looking outside the window, I deduced it was still early morning. Stretching my muscles, I got out of bed, exited the room and wondered down the hall. Before I got too lost, I ran into one of the crew members who told me breakfast had been prepared. He kindly lead me to the dinning section of the ship (I wasn't even aware pirate ships had a dinning area!) and I nodded my thanks.

The dinning area turned out to be the bar room in the lower decks of the ship. They had set up several tables in between the giant poles that held the ship together. Lucy had just finished setting the tables and placing the food upon them. There was a special table set up near the bar, and I figured that one was for the captain. As soon as everyone was present and accounted for, we started to eat.

I hadn't noticed Thal anywhere until I actually looked around for him. He was sitting next to the captain and the looked to be in a serious conversation. I mentally shrugged. Boys will be boys. Speaking of boys, I noticed I was sitting with the majority of the female crew mates, including Lucy. She must have read my mind.

"We thought you would enjoy some female company, after traveling with him for so long," she smiled.

"Thanks," I smiled back, something I guessed I might find myself more often.

I was grateful to be surrounded by people who I had at least one thing in common with. It helped me to relax a bit. I ate my breakfast quietly as the women chatted and gossiped away about things I had no knowledge of. I really didn't care to listen unless it involved me. I was more of a tom boy anyway. At least, I was now.

Before the war, I was just like one of them. A princess who longed for the day her prince charming would ride into town on his noble steed and sweep her away from the worlds troubles. But the war had changed all of that. It showed me the reality of it all. Life wasn't made of lolly pops and unicorns, or princesses and prince charming. It was a hard place, where only the tough survived. Really, I sometimes wished I had never traveled to Northrend. Then I would have never had to grow up so soon.

"Seth? Did you hear me?" asked Lucy.

I shook myself out of my thoughts. "Sorry Lucy," I apologized, "I was thinking."

"Probably about that Blood elf she's traveling with," I heard on of the crew mates say to another who nodded. I withheld the urge to roll my eyes.

"I said tonight we're having a party in the cargo hold and both you and Thal are invited. Will you be attending?"

I thought about it for a second. I hadn't been to a party in some time. It might be fun to relax the whole trip, or at least part of it. Plus, if Lucy was the great brew master everyone bragged she was, I wouldn't mind testing her brew for myself.

"Sure," I nodded. "Why not?"

After breakfast was finished, I volunteered to help clean up. Lucy was grateful for the help. Not a scrap of food was spared, and all we had to do was wash dishes. It had been a while since I had done simple chores like these. It felt good to feel like a normal person with normal worries again. The two of us had such a good time, we ended up talking most of the afternoon away. I couldn't remember the last time I was so happy. Lucy and I talked about tons of random stuff and our conversations seemed to jump around a lot. Somehow, we ended up on the subject of Thal.

"So, tell me about Thal. What's he like?" asked Lucy.

"Well, he's kind when he wants to be, but he tends to keep to himself. He doesn't remember much about his life, and I get the feeling he wished he knew more. Thal likes to goof off a lot, but I suppose he can be serious when the situation calls for it," I replied.

"Have you ever asked him what he remembers?"

"Nope," I replied with out a second thought. "I never really cared much to ask."

"Maybe you should," said Lucy as she took a sip of her water. "You guys are going to be traveling together after all."

"Maybe..Why did you ask about him, anyway?" I asked. I was curious.

"No reason."

The conversation ended there since Lucy had to start getting things ready for the party that would take place later on. I told her I'd see her later and then started to wander around the ship aimlessly. I really had no idea what I would do till tonight. As I wandered, my thoughts drifted to Thal. How they got there, I don't know. I started thinking about where we stood right now. I considered him my ally, if just for now. But how did he consider me? Did he feel I was his ally too, or was I just company? Why did I care anyway? I guess I didn't. The two sides of me had finally come to an agreement on this subject. Thal was somewhat trustworthy and was a good companion who could lighten the mood when need be. I suppose that's how I saw him.

I ended up on the deck of the ship somehow. The smell of salt tickled my nose. I hadn't been to the ocean in a while. I headed over to the railing and leaned on it. Of course, I started thinking about Thal again. I hadn't seen him since breakfast. Not that it bothered me, but I was starting to wonder if he was maybe avoiding me. I sighed. I really needed to stop thinking about this stuff.

* * *

"Wow Lucy! This brew could rival that of the best dwarven brew master! What do you put in this stuff?" I asked taking another sip.

"Thanks! The recipe is a secret though, sorry." replied Lucy.

"Now I see why these pirates really enjoy you're company."

Lucy laughed. "So, Seth," she began, "remember our conversation earlier?"

"Uh, which one?" I asked.

"The one about Thal," she replied.

Oh great! Why did she want to talk about him? I had done enough thinking about him to last the entire trip, and frankly I really didn't want to think about him anymore.

"What about it?" I asked sourly.

"What's the relationship between you two?"

Maybe it was the beer. Yeah it was definitely the beer. Did I hear her right?

"By that you mean...?"

"You know what I mean! You're traveling with a Blood elf, a _**male**_ Blood elf. There has to be at least _some _kind of connection, right?"

"Honestly Lucy, I have no idea. I spent the whole afternoon pondering that same question and I couldn't come up with a suitable answer."

"What did you come up with?" asked Lucy, filling up my now empty mug.

"Well, I decided that we're allies and that I don't really mind traveling with him," I said. _'Even if he can be a pain in the ass,' _I mentally added.

Lucy placed the mug in front of me and began filling up a few more for some of the crew. "No no! You're thinking about it all wrong!" she exclaimed.

I must have had a _'What the fuck are you talking about?'_ look on my face for she clarified.

"Ask yourself, could you give your whole heart mind and soul to him? Could you marry him without any doubts? Could you..."

Could I? I didn't know. Marrying him was probably out of the question, since he was still a horde at the end of the day. That would go against everything I was ever taught. But then again, at the end of the day he was still Thaladona. Could I trust him with my whole self? He hasn't done anything to prove he wasn't trustworthy, but I had been fighting against his kind for years, and even though a number of them had turned to our side. It was hard to forgive and forget.

"No." I replied. "Not now at least."

Lucy seemed disappointed. "Then maybe it's not love? Maybe it's something else.."

She seemed to ponder that thought for a while. "It's probably just a physical attraction then."

"I can live with that," I replied. "How are you so knowledgeable about this stuff, anyway?" I asked.

She looked at me and smiled. "I dunno."

* * *

Thal had heard the whole conversation. He too had to think about the girls words. Thal's thought pattern was much the same as Seth's, only he was more willing to give it a shot. Of course, Seth's words had probably shot any chance of that ever happening crashing down into Azeroth. He knew her reasoning for it though, and if she was as loyal to those thoughts as she was her mission, they may never have a chance together. Still, it wouldn't stop Thal from secretly wishing. Though he would never admit it to himself, he had grown found of the druid. He secretly dreaded the day they would have to part for good. As much as he might have wanted something to happen between the two, for now he would just have to be happy with a physical attraction.

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**There's chapter 9. Sorry it was so short, but there wasn't much else I had planned for this chapter! I really hope to start updating this more often...**


	10. Discovering Part of the Unknown

**Chapter 10**: Discovering Part of the Unknown

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything in this story but the plot and the characters..kindaish? Eh. Everything else is property of Blizzard Entertainment.

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Thal wasn't happy. Actually, he was kind of worried. He hadn't seen Seth since the party, and that was almost a week ago. Surely he would have run into her by now, right? The ship wasn't that big, was it? Maybe she was avoiding him? But then why? Had he made her mad? There was no way! That women was too..too... ah hell he didn't know! Besides, he didn't remember making her mad...

Maybe the smell off beer and sweat was getting to him. He walked away from the bar, waving a goodbye to Lucy and headed up the flights of stairs that lead to the upper deck. Cold air and the smell of salt assaulted his nose as he stepped foot on the deck. There was hardly anyone up here, for it was only early morning and the sun was barely up. The only ones who he had seen up so far had been the captain, Lucy, and that short fat guy who steered the ship. Thal stretched and yawned. It was still early. Maybe he should catch a few more Z's before he had to get his stuff ready to depart. They would be reaching Northrend sometime in the next day or so.

Thal turned to go to his cabin when something fell out of the sky and hit him square on the head. "What the ..?" Thal asked while touching his head. There would probably be a bump their later. He looked around him to try and figure out what hit him. Right next to his right foot, there was a pendant in the shape of a heart. He picked it up and studied it. There was a beautifully crafted heart locket hanging on a silver string in his hands. The locket was probably made out of Cobalt, since it was blue in color. There were intricate vine patterns caved into the metal. They popped out and Thal ran his fingers over them. Their green color contrasted against the blue beautifully.

"Could I have that back?" someone shouted from above him.

Thal looked up. Seth was standing on one of the masts about two stories up from him with her hand extended. The other was used to hold onto the rope to keep herself from falling. He smirked up at her.

"Say please." he said.

"Please?" she asked, her hand stretching out more as if she could snatch the pendant away from him.

Thal looked at her, then at the pendant and back at her. He smirked. "No," he said calmly.

Seth let out a groan in frustration before she hopped down onto the deck of the ship. Thal was a bit stunned she hadn't broken her legs or something. That was quite a fall after all. As she reached out to snatch it from, he took it and held it high above her head.

"Give it back!" she cried, jumping up and down trying to reach it.

"What do I get as a reward for returning it?" he asked, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Thaladona, you're acting like a child!"

"Me?" he asked in disbelief. "You're the one jumping up and down trying to get some stupid locket. Here," he tossed it to her, "I don't want the damn thing anyways."

Seth caught it and quickly clasped it around her neck. Had he not been watching, he wouldn't have believed that once she put it back on, it vanished.

"What the hell?" he asked, reaching for where the necklace was once at.

Seth smacked his hand away. "What the hell do you think you're doing, pervert!?" she screamed.

"How did it just disappear like that?" he asked.

Seth rolled her eyes. "Why do you care?" she asked.

"Because knowing would solve one more mystery about you," he replied.

"What?" asked Seth.

Thal walked to the front of the boat and leaned on the edge. Seth followed close behind. "There's just something about you that intrigues me," began Thal. "When I think I have part of you figured out, theres a million new questions that pop into my head. I don't know if you do it just to piss me off or what, but it does. I don't like not knowing something."

Seth took up a spot besides him on the ledge. "Then that's something else we have in common. I don't like the unknown either. It's part of the reason I don't trust you."

"Care to elaborate?"

Seth sighed. "I know just about everything there is to know about Death Knights. I was thinking about some things the other day, and I realized I don't know that much about you, Thal. You're not like any of the other Death Knights I've ever met. You're not like any of the Horde I've ever encountered either. I searched for a word, a phrase, something to describe you, but the only thing I could think of was that you're one of a kind."

"I'll take that as a complement."

There was a long silence as Thal thought her words over, tasting them on his tongue and then finally swallowing them. He couldn't blame her for wondering. They had been traveling together for almost a quarter of a year now, and they only knew basic knowledge about each other. Maybe it was time they learned more.

"I don't remember much anymore. It's all fuzzy, like it was only a dream. Maybe I was different before this. Maybe my past made me who I am today, and I don't even know why. Like anyone, there are probably things I want to do over, but wouldn't."

"It sounds difficult." she said, not looking at his face. He nodded.

"I remember I owned a tailoring shop in Silvermoon city. There was this one elderly Elf who would always stop in my store around the same time every year. She always asked for things in the most unusual sizes, but I didn't ask questions. I knew what they were for back then, but I don't now. She looked a lot like I did. Maybe she was a relative. I saved most of my money and enrolled in a training school for priests. Most of those days are a blur." Thal ran his hand through his hair absentmindedly.

"How did you..." Seth trailed off.

"The same way it happened to most of us. As soon as Arthas resurfaced, hundreds upon thousands were called into battle, me included. Most of us never got to see him, but those who did suffered this fate. When I woke up, I remember being in a great deal of pain. It took weeks for me to adjust, all the while there was this voice inside my head that wouldn't shut up. It was cold and emotionless. It broke me. I started out like everyone else, doing the ghouls work. Eventually, I was promoted."

"To what?" asked Seth, curiosity clear in her eyes.

"Recruitment officer," he replied nonchalantly.

Seth's eyes widened a bit, expressing her shock. "You made Death Knights." It wasn't a question.

Thal let out a cold chuckle, one that made shivers run down Seth's spine. "No, only the big man himself could do that. Basically, I went around from town to town and killed innocent people, then raised them as ghouls, necromancers, and the such. If they couldn't be raised, we brought them back to the alchemists to be used for abominations."

Seth was disgusted. Poor helpless villagers who didn't stand a chance in hell, which was probably what their lives were right now, slaughtered all for the army of a monster! A pang of sadness ran through her heart as she spent a moment in silence mourning for all the lost souls. Not only the ones who had been killed by Thal, but all the casualties in this never ending war. Sadness was replaced with anger; anger at Thal. Sure, she knew he had no choice in his actions, but she couldn't help it. He was probably just as mad at himself as she was.

After a moment of silence, Seth gave him the okay to continue. "I was also with the group that helped move Naxxramas from the Plaguelands. It wasn't easy, and took weeks of planning. We pulled it off though." Thal sighed. "The rest isn't something I like talking about."

Seth could understand that. She didn't like talking about anything that had to do with her part in this war, or Northrend in general. Most of her memories had been good ones, up until she got to Icecrown. "What were you doing in Hyjal?"

"Well, after the whole Light's Hope Chapel incident, most of the Death Knights went to Thrall. Being the great person that he is, he welcomed us back into the horde, thinking we would be a wonderful ally against the Lich King. After that, I really didn't have a place to go. With what little money I had, I traveled around from place to place, helping who I could, and making people see that we really wanted to change our ways. Eventually, I wandered into Southern Winterspring. I had no idea what I was doing there. There was some feeling deep inside my gut telling me that I had to go that way. People in the town had told me there was nothing but demons down there. Course, I found lots of them, but I also found a cave into Hyjal. One thing lead to another and I ended up making camp near the World Tree. You know the rest."

Thal's explanation had been enough for her. She had had her fill of stories for one day. Looking off into the horizon, she noted the sun was just touching the water's surface. It would be dark soon, meaning it would get cold. It would do her no good to catch cold right before landing on the shores of Northrend. Pushing herself up from the ledge, she stretched her stiff muscles.

"What about you?" Thal asked, following her moves.

"It's getting late. You better get inside. We don't need to be getting sick right before we depart. I'll see you in the morning." With that, Seth turned and walked away.

Some answer that was. Thal sighed in defeat. He had practically told her his life story, and the only thing she cared about was not getting sick? Women were such confusing creatures. He would never understand them as long as he lived. Maybe he had really done something to upset her this time. She did seem angry when he mentioned the villages. She had every right to be angry. She was a creature who stood for everything that was life. He stood to take life into his hands and crush it. It wasn't his fault, that's just how he was brought back. Thal was angry at himself too. He was a puppet under the Lich King's control and couldn't do a damn thing about it!

The wind picked up slightly and Thal shivered. Seth was right about one thing. If he stood out here much longer, he might indeed catch a cold. Taking one last glance out into the ocean, he turned and headed for his cabin, too.

* * *

**Ok, first I'm sorry for not updating in forever, but I've been busy with the Spring Muscial the last month. It ended last Sunday, and then I had Quarterly Exams all week. Thankfully, I'm on spring break now, but only till monday ={( (He has a mustache!!) School is almost out though, only...8 more weeks! God I can't wait!**

**So, we got to know a little about Thal's past. Being a Death Knight, he can't remember much (Doh). In the next chapter they'll be arriving in Northrend. That means we'll have to say goodbye to Lucy Loo and the Pirates =(. (That one has a Beauty Mark!) From here on out, there are going to be many more characters that are going to have cameo's in this story! Yay for Cameos!**


	11. The Lament of My Sister

**Chapter 11:** The Lament of My Sister

**Disclaimer:** World of Warcraft is property of Blizzard Entertainment. I make no proffit off of any of this.

* * *

I Blinked. Once. Twice. There was just no way. She was standing right in front of me. I hadn't seen her since the day she left for that frozen wasteland. It was part of the reason I wanted to go to Northrend so badly; I wanted to find her. I wanted to find my sister. Now, I had no more reason to look. There she was, right in front of me.

I ran towards here with my arms outstretched. Before I could reach her, she fell down to the ground in a puddle of her own blood. I tried to scream, to use my magic to heal her, but I was paralyzed. How? How did such a thing happen? She was the best warrior I had even known, she wouldn't be the one to take it lying down? Why? Why didn't she defend herself? Thats when I noticed how cold it was. It was that kind of cold that you only felt when death was upon you. Slowly, I turned around and noticed those cold blue eyes. At first, I thought it was the Lich King. But then I saw that unmistakable crown of blue hair. Thal. Why? Why would he do this!?

I awoke with a scream right before Thal had a chance to bring his runeblade down upon me. My heart was beating so fast. Thank Elune it had all been just a dream. A horrible horrible dream. I picked up the sound of footsteps coming from the hall and turned just in time to see Lucy open the door.

"Seth, I heard you scream. Are you alright?" she asked.

I nodded. "Just a nightmare."

"About Northrend?"

She wasn't a mind reader, was she? "Sort of, yes. Why do you ask?"

"Because we're here."

Breakfast was quiet that morning. Lucy wasn't talking for fear she would start crying. We had become really close over the two months we'd been at sea. I had no idea why anyone else wasn't talking. I wondered if they had heard me scream earlier. That had obviously heard, since he wouldn't stop staring at me. I sighed and continued eating my breakfast.

After breakfast, Thal and I went to our respective cabins and gathered what belongings we had. After everything was packed, we thanked the captain and crew. Thal had already descended the board tossed into the water and was now using his Path of Frost ability to stand on top of the water. He patiently waited for me while I said my goodbyes to Lucy. The poor girl was trying so hard not to cry, but she couldn't help but let a few tears slip past her eyes. I assured her that once I was done, I would visit her as often as I could. With final goodbyes, Thal and I set off across the water to the shores of the Borean Tundra.

* * *

"You've been awfully quiet today, Seth. Something wrong?"

Oh my Elune.

"If you don't want to tell me, it's alright. I can't help but worry after...

Shut up.

"Well never mind. Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?

I swear I'm ganna...

"Seth? Are you awake?"

Oh Elune I can't take it anymore!

"Stop," I managed to squeak out.

"What?" Thal asked looking over his shoulder.

I slid off Brusha and landed on the grassy tundra on my hands and knees. There was no way I was going to be able to hold my hair back. Just as I was about to spill my guts all over the ground, Thal pulled my hair back for me. It was the most disgusting thing I had ever tasted. My breakfast definitely didn't taste so good the second time around. My throat burned like I had just swallowed fire. Ugh! I looked a way and with a flick of my hand, roots grew from the ground and covered up the mess before pulling it through the ground. Thal helped me up and handed me a flask of water which I gladly accepted. I took a drink, gargled it, and spit it right back out. Rinse and repeat.

I handed the flask back to Thal and put my hand up to my forehead. I didn't feel warm.

"I think that trip finally caught up to me," I explained.

"Want to rest a bit?" Thal asked. I shook my head. He shrugged and hopped up on Brusha. Once he was settled, he pulled me up behind him and we continued through Borean trying to avoid any Horde or Alliance settlements.

The sun would be setting soon and we needed a place to rest. Thankfully, the D.E.H.T.A encampment was just a few miles North. Thal and I decided it was best if we didn't arrive together. He let me off a few yards away from the encampment and rode further North. Being a fellow druid, I was welcomed with open arms. They gave me some food and said I could rest there for the night. Later, Thal arrived and they offered him the same. We rested there that night, and thankfully I didn't have another nightmare.

The next morning, we awoke and came to a mutual agreement that Thal would head out first. We decided to meet back up at the entrance to Kaskala. He would head out an hour before I would, just so it didn't seem suspicious to the explorers helping Dehta out. That hour went incredibly slow, and I was glad when it was over. Once I was a ways away from the camp, I was about to shift into my travel form when a thought occurred. We were getting closer to Dragonblight. This area was covered by the Lich King's undead minions. If one of them were to sense my powers, they could easily find me. Once they did, I would be forced to fight them, using more of my magic and alerting my enemies to my location. I mentally cursed at myself for not thinking of this earlier when I used my Entangling Roots. Damn. Looks like I would be walking from here on out.

I arrived at Kaskala after what was a very long walk. That and I had been stopped by a traveler who was lost on there way to Sholazar Basin. That had taken up a good ten minutes of my travel time. To make matters worse, Thal wasn't even at the fork in the road when I got there. Maybe he had ditched me. Fine! I didn't care. Good riddance!

Of course, Thal had to prove me wrong by appearing out of no where with a brown sack in his hands.

"Where did you get that?" I asked a bit suspicious.

"The walrus people needed some help with the Vrykul so I thought I'd earn some quick cash by helping out."

"The walrus people? You mean the Tuskar?"

"Yeah, them. Well, let's get going."

The rest of the ride went smoothly until we got to En'Kila. The undead and the other monsters around that area kept giving us trouble, but it was expected. I was absolutely no help to Thal which pissed me off more than it did him. He probably looked at it like he was protecting a damsel in distress. Hell! I was no damsel and had the circumstances been different, I would have shown him just that. It pissed me off even more because I couldn't.

* * *

I was relieved when we finally entered Dragonblight. The sun was almost gone, and we had to find a place to camp quickly.

"Star's Rest isn't too far from here," I said.

"Yeah, and?" Thal said over his shoulder.

"I want to stop and rest there."

"You do know that's and Alliance only camp, right?"

I rolled my eyes. I wasn't stupid. "Yeah and?" I threw his words right back at him.

"I think it would be safer if we stayed together for right now."

"How would camping out in the snow be safer than staying in a place that has some protection?"

"It wouldn't be cold." He was trying to dodge the question.

"Thal..." I almost growled out.

"You've been acting weird all day, even for you. First when you woke up screaming on the boat, then when you got sick, and earlier when you seemed pissed for no apparent reason. Is it against the law to be worried?"

"Why the hell are you worried about me? Why should you care if I'm acting weird? It doesn't affect you in any way, so just piss off."

Thal pulled Brusha to a halt and hopped down from her. "Damn it Seth," he said looking at me. "That attitude of yours is getting pretty old. I've been nothing but nice to you, and you don't even seem to care. I understand that you hate me, us. I get it. But what I don't get is why? Why do you hate us?"

"It's none of your damn business." This time I actually did growl. Thal reached up and grabbed my wrist and tugged it down. I hadn't realized how mad I had actually been, because as soon as those words flew out of my mouth, I instantly wanted to take them back. "You killed my sister!"

Thal looked dumbstruck. He just looked at me with his mouth open like turkey when it rains. "What?" he finally managed to get out. I slowly pulled my wrist out of his grasp and turned my head away. "My sister was one of the first warriors to step foot on Northrend once the expeditions began. She was brave and strong, smart and courageous. She was also a high ranking lieutenant. I don't know all the details, but I do know it wasn't a fair fight. Ghouls and Death Knights surrounded her. She disappeared after that. I want to believe she's still alive somewhere, but it gets harder every day...I don't blame you personally, it's just..."

Thal was quiet after that. We stood there for a long time too. Eventually, he grabbed Brusha's reins and led her a ways down the path till Star's Rest was in sight. I got off there, and he continued on, probably to Agmar's Hammer. I tried not to cry that night. My thoughts were plagued with memories of her. In the end, a lone tear rolled down my cheek in lament for my older sister.

* * *

**Sorry this one took a while to get out, but I hope it was worth the wait. I was rather satisfied with this chapter. I know it's short, but I couldn't really fit much into this chapter since it was just one about them traveling. In the next chapter, they get to that big temple! Yay! Woah, I just got this splitting headache...**


	12. Kai Makes Her Smile

**Chapter 12: **Kai Makes Her Smile

**Disclaimer: **World of Warcraft belongs to Blizzard Entertainment. I'm making no profit off of this story.

* * *

I was becoming soft. There was absolutely no other explanation for it. I actually missed his company! Can you believe it! Of course, I wouldn't admit it to him. I guess since we had been traveling together for so long, I started to get use to his presence being around all the time. It just felt weird to be traveling by myself again, even if it was only temporary.

I had gotten up a bit after dawn, and after making sure I had everything I needed, I left stars rest and started walking. It took me maybe half an hour or so to get to the end of the path. From there it was a straight line toward Wyrmrest Temple. I wasn't sure if Thal had already come this way and headed toward the temple, so I waited for another half hour. During that time, I ended pondering my sanity. Why was I waiting for him again? Oh yes, I was definitely getting soft. Half an hour was long enough. I wrapped my fur lined leather vest tighter around myself. There was no way I was waiting for him any longer out in this weather! I was freezing!

It was times like this I really wish I had one of my faithful mounts with me. Ridding through the snow would have been much faster than walking in it. In some places it almost came up to my hips! My armor wasn't very good at keeping me warm, either. Sure, I had it lined with fur the night before, but it was still a bit lacking in places. It would have been nice if my leggings had been a little bit past my knees. I sighed and continued on. Things could have been worse.

Finally I could see the temple. Just in time, too! I was probably getting hypothermia from being out in this cold weather for so long. There was no doubt in my mind that I would catch a cold. Knowing Thal, he would probably make me wait until I got better before we continued on. I'd just have to try and hide my cold from him, that's all. Speaking of Thal, I still hadn't seen him. If he was already at the temple, I was going to chew him out for not waiting for me!

As soon as I stepped foot into the large ground level section of the temple, I felt a sudden warmth wash over me. The cold had totally vanished from my body, and I realized how tired I was. I bought a nice warm bowl of soup from one of the vendors, grabbed a blanket out of my backpack, and snuggled up next to a cozy fire someone had built near the steps. Life was good. I had almost fallen asleep when I heard some commotion from somewhere outside. I was just about to get up to check it out when some massive beast on four legs slammed right into me and started licking my face and making noises that almost sounded like a sheep.

I knew just who it was, too. But how he got here was a total mystery. "Kaitan, Kaitan, get off of me you big lug!" I said, while gently pushing the giant Talbuk off of me. Brushing myself off, I looked around. No one seemed to care that I was attacked by a strange talbuk. I was glad for that. I really didn't need to be making a scene right now. "How did you get here Kai?" I asked.

Kai made what sounded like a Baaing noise and licked my cheek once more. He was avoiding the question, but it didn't matter. Elune must have been looking down on me, because I no longer had to ride with Thal. I had my own mount now. Kaitan and I went way back to the days when people still fought in Nagrand for Halaa. I wasn't much into the whole "Kill the Horde!" thing back then, but every now and then I would join in. It wasn't long before I had bought Kaitan with the tokens I earned. I didn't want the fancy Dark War Talbuk (course I would never have the patience to get all those tokens) so instead I got Kaitan. Right away I knew we would make a great team.

Kaitan was also a great judge of character. Strange, I know, but he sure knew how to tell if someone was trying to trick you. Kai baaed again and turned around. I had been so lost in my thoughts I hadn't even noticed Thal was walking toward us finishing off what looked like some sort of kabob. Kai went right up to him and nudged him affectionately. Maybe Kai wasn't such a great judge in character after all.

"About time you got here," said Thal after he had finished eating his kabob. "I've been here for about a whole day."

I gave him a confused look. "A whole day? What'd you do, come here last night?"

He nodded. "Couldn't sleep last night so I thought I'd get a head start. I take it you know this talbuk?" he asked, handing Kai some unidentifiable piece of food which the talbuk happily accepted.

"Yeah. He belongs to me," I replied.

"Really? He's been following me around all day. I started doing a few errands for some of the people around here, and out of no where he appears and starts following me. Odd huh?"

"No, he probably ran away from Wintergarde Keep. When he found you, he obviously smelt my scent and thought if he followed you around, he would eventually find me."

Thal didn't look convinced. "That's some pretty smart thinking for a talbuk."

I walked over to Kai and started stroking his fur. "Well talbuks are pretty smart creatures. Though, I'm starting to think otherwise about this one. He can't be too smart if he decided to follow you."

Kai shook his main and snorted. I smiled. Kai could always tell when I was joking. I guess I was so concentrated on the texture of Kai's fur that I hadn't even seen Thal remove his glove or put the back of his hand on my forehead. I stood there slightly shocked for a good second or two before I removed his hand.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked. Unconsciously I brought my fingers to rest where Thal's hand had just been.

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked.

Oh shit. I felt fine, was something wrong? Had he figured out I had a cold? Oh man, I was so screwed.

"Yes...Why?" I asked hesitantly.

"You smiled," he replied putting his glove back on.

"Be glad. You just witnessed a rare occasion. Now if you don't mind, I really need to take a bath.." and with that, I walked off with Kai in tow hopping to find a nice, warm bath to soak in for a while.

Thal was glad. He was starting to see more and more of what she was when she went by the name of Coria. He was pretty sure he had something to do with it too. That was another reason to be glad. Piece by piece, he was breaking away at the stone walls she had put up around herself. He could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice. She trusted him. Maybe she even thought of him as a friend. He smiled as he watched her form slip from his view. He already thought of her as much more then a friend, and maybe someday, she would think of him that way too. For now though, he would continue to tease her and get her riled up. Maybe one of these times he would even see her smile again. That was a day he would look forward to.

* * *

**I love Thal + Kai. Their like my favorite characters in this story XD. So, hopefully I've made it clear that Thal likes Seth more than a friend. (Aww he has a crush on Seth! ^^) Seth is going to start opening up to Thal. After her little outburst I think it's the least she can do to appologize. Sorry for the short length, but I thought I'd better get SOMETHING out. It's been over a month now XD Please review and tell me what you think. Next Time: An Unwanted Visitor!**


	13. Don't Worry, It's All Good

**Chapter 13: **Don't Worry, It's All Good

**Disclaimer: **World of Warcraft belongs to Blizzard Entertainment.

* * *

Over night a terrible blizzard had hit the temple, and the snow was piled up taller than Seth in some places. This stopped travel completely, so a few good souls who took refuge in the temple for the night (meaning Seth, Thal, and a few others) took to clearing paths toward Crystalsong Forest, Stars Rest, Fordragon Hold, and all the other places travelers needed to go. There was about fifteen volunteers in all. Each were split into five groups consisting of about three people each. The smaller groups of two people got the shorter routes to uncover, seeing as it would be easier and faster than having them do a long route. Seth was put into a group with a female Draenei and a male Human. Thal was grouped with two male Tauren. It took the groups the majority of the day to clear the paths. Some didn't return till nightfall. By the time everyone was back at Wyrmrest, it was time to turn in.

Seth sighed. She had hopped to leave today so they could be in Crystalsong by late afternoon. That wasn't happening today, and if she kept sneezing and coughing like she had they wouldn't be leaving until her cold cleared up. While she had been out, she had collected some herbs. She had just enough to make a potion that would help hide the effects of the cold. After her warm bath, Seth mixed the potion together. She got ready for bed and drank just what she would need of the potion for now, before promptly falling asleep.

The coughing and sneezing was gone by the morning, but Seth still felt terrible. All she wanted to do was sleep, but someone just had to wake her up. She got dressed, cooked herself some breakfast and wished she hadn't. It took all of her strength to keep from tasting her breakfast a second time. Seth wasn't one who got sick often, but when she did it was a total nightmare. Thankfully, she hadn't seen Thal all day. Actually, that was pretty odd. It wasn't a very big place. Well, okay, yes it was. Maybe it wasn't so odd after all.

*~*~*~*~* This means Intermission! *~*~*~*~*

Seth didn't even remember falling asleep. The last thing she could remember was staring at one of the giant guardians around the temple thinking about how much it might hurt to get on one of their bad sides. Next thing she new, she was being gently awoken by Thal.

"Hey, are you awake?" he asked.

Her vision slowly returned and she forgot what she was doing for a moment. Seth shook it off nodded her head. She didn't think she would be able to speak and not throw up. Thal outstretched his hand to her and she gladly took it. She wobbled for a second when she stood, but Thal quickly helped her regain her balance. She nodded her head and walked away to find Kai and ready herself for what would seem to be a long trip.

Thal watched her walk away with a very confused look on his face. He had never seen her act this way. He thought she would just smack his hand away and get up herself. She kinda looked like she had some kind of hangover. Right away, Thal went to every vendor that sold some sort of beverage and asked them if they had sold any alcohol to Seth. None of them had, so he was left to ponder just what was wrong with her. When Seth returned some time later, Thal gathered that she was ready to head out, so he mounted Brusha and the two of them set out for Crystalsong.

*~*~*~*~* I'm Hungry -_- *~*~*~*~*

Everything was against me! First, I feel like shit, then Kai starts to play the "Lets not let Seth mount me" game. After I finally got onto Kai, Thal and I set out. Somehow we managed to get sidetracked several times by snobolds on an angry rampage. Of course, Kai is the biggest chicken I know, so of course he freaked out and knocked me off. Thal had to jump off Brusha and stop the snobolds from possibly injuring me since I was too disoriented to do anything. This happened about two more times, only the last one had to do with some sort of wolves or something. I don't know. I thought everything was just about to settle down. Again, I was wrong.

"Are you feeling all right?" asked Thal as he and Brusha fell into step with Kai and I.

"Just fine," I replied. The less I talked, the less chance I had of loosing my breakfast.

"You sure? You don't look to good. Maybe we should stop for a while?"

I was about ready to cry from sheer frustration. "I'm fine. I want to enter Crystalsong before dark. Dalaran is only a short walk from -" I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye. Kai must have seen it too, because he stopped and turned toward it.

"What is it?" asked Thal, turning toward the direction we were looking.

There was something flashing off in the distance. It was probably just a fire or a light. No big deal. I took hold of Kai's reins and tried to pull him back onto the road, but he wouldn't budge. His eyes were fixated on whatever that was off in the distance.

"Kai, come on. It's nothing," I told him. He took a few steps toward it. "Kai, what's wrong?" I was starting to worry. Kai _**always**_ obeyed my orders, no matter how stupid they were. Kai started to pick up pace and before I knew it, he was in a full blown dash toward the light. "Kai, stop! Stop!"

"Hey, wait up!" cried Thal from behind.

It all happened so fast it hardly registered in my mind. Kai was running, Brusha right on his heels. Kai reared up into the air and I heard a sickening crack. Then there was this feeling of falling. I knew I had been knocked off of Kai's back, but I never hit ground. I screamed because I didn't know what was happening. The last thing I saw was the sky disappearing and then everything went black.

Seth, Thal, Brusha, and Kai all plummeted right through the ground into an underground cavern. The snow that fell from the ground that broke under them cushioned their fall. Thankfully, neither Brusha or Kai were severely injured. Thal had a killer headache when everything finally caught up to him, but other than that he seemed just find. The only source of light in the cave was the light coming in from above. Thal looked around for Seth. He found her lying only a few feet away from him, but she wasn't moving. He stood up and rushed over to her. He rolled her off of her side and tried waking her. When that didn't work, he bent over her to make sure she wasn't dead. He could still hear her breathe, and her heart was still beating. He sighed in relief and sat back.

A few moments later, Thal had started a small fire with the wood they had in their packs. He had laid out some blankets for Seth to lie on while she slept. Kai was worried about her, so when he laid down, Thal positioned Seth right up against him for warmth. That's when he noticed she was sweating. Was she warm? Thal removed his plated glove and placed the back of his hand over her forehead. Warm? She was burning up! Right at that moment all the lights went on in his head. She had been acting so strange because she had a fever! She probably hadn't told him because it would have delayed their trip. Thal groaned. He was not prepared for this.

In a split second decision, he opened Seth's backpack and began looking for anything that might help. He immediately spotted three potions. One was purple with a tinge of yellow, another was orange, and the final one was a blue color. Of course, none of them were labeled. Alchemists never labeled their work. He put them all back. He didn't want to risk giving her something that would make her fever worse. He had no idea what was suppose to do. For the first time in a while, Thal began to panic. Course, he wasn't panicking for long. Seth began to stir and Thal was by her side in a minute. Her face scrunched up in pain for a moment before she opened her eyes. She blinked a few times to clear her vision, and the first thing she saw was Thal. She smiled.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey," he replied. He was at a loss for words. Right at that moment, she looked so much like she did back in Hyjal. So carefree, so happy. He wanted to do something, anything, but his body was frozen. All he could do was smile back.

Seth tried to sit up, but struggled. Thal carefully helped her get into a comfortable position.

"Isn't this familiar," Seth remarked. "What happened?"

"The ground gave in under us. It was probably because of the blizzard the other night."

"How long have I been out?"

"No more than thirty minutes." Thal sat back and gave her a stern look. "When were you planning on telling me you had a fever?"

Seth sighed. "I was hoping it would pass over, but I guess it didn't." Seth coughed a few times before leaning back into Kai and closing her eyes. "There's a small vial in the side pouch of my pack. Can you get it for me?"

Thal nodded and got the vial. He handed it to her and she uncorked it. Taking one look at it, she drank what was left of the potion she had whipped up the other night. She corked the vial and handed it back to Thal, who put it back in her pack.

"Are you hungry?" Thal asked. "I have some rhino meat I could cook up. I think I might have something for Kai too."

"Sure."

Thal took out some rhino meat he had been saving and unwrapped the paper from around it. He took out several of the smaller pieces of wood he found and skewered the meat onto them before setting them near the fire to cook. Seth had fallen asleep again, and Thal woke her up so they could enjoy their meal. By the time they finished, it was too dark to try and find a way out of the cave. They decided to rest for the night and if someone hadn't found them by morning, they would look for a way out by themselves. Neither Thal nor Seth could sleep though. Thal was too worried about Seth and Seth was too warm to get comfortable.

Neither wanted to let the other know they were awake, so Kai took matters into his own hands. Kai stood up, nudging Seth up with him and slowly pushed her toward Thal who had gotten up to see what was going on. Once Kai was satisfied that they were close enough, he pushed Seth down next to Thal and laid right down behind the both of them, offering himself as a pillow of sorts.

Thal put a hand up against Seth's head to check her temperature. "You're warm," he stated. Seth didn't even hear him. Thal was unusually cold and it felt good against her skin. Without even realizing it, she leaned into Thal and made herself comfortable. Thal was a little shocked, but after a while he adjusted. The warmth she radiated was something he hadn't felt in a long time. It felt good to feel warm again, even if it wasn't his warmth. Thal slowly adjusted himself so they were both comfortable and the two were finally able to sleep.

*~*~*~*~*Spaghetti!*~*~*~*~*

Thal and Seth both awoke early the next morning. No one had discovered them over night, so they cooked the rest of their food and packed up. Seth couldn't walk two steps with out almost falling over. Her fever wasn't as bad as it had been the night before, but it was still present. Thal suggested she ride on Kai while they looked for a way. After they were set and ready to go, they took off into the dark unknown.

There was no wood left for a makeshift torch, but there wasn't one needed. Light was filtering in from somewhere. No matter how much Thal looked around, he couldn't find where it was coming from. After half an hour of walking, his neck started to get sore from following the lights, so he gave up on it and decided to just be thankful there was light. The cave took many twists and turns. It was impossible to tell how much longer they would have to walk. It may have been wiser to wait where they were. There was always a chance someone would have found them. Then again, there was also a chance they wouldn't have been found. If that had been the case, Thal was glad they had decided to look for a way out.

After over an hour of walking, the path started to make a steep incline. Brusha had no problems climbing up, but Kai didn't have it as easily. It took him twice as long to get up because he had Seth on his back. Thal had to climb back down at one point and help push him up. When everyone was finally at the top, they got a good look at there surroundings.

They had entered a giant cavern. Thal could clearly make out a large opening near the end. There was a strange sense of foreboding in the air that stopped him in his tracks. Something wasn't right about this. He began to think that their falling into that hole was no longer an accident.

"I know this place," said Seth. Her voice was rough and you could tell she wasn't up to par. Thal turned to look at her. "This is Frostmourne Cavern."

"Indeed it is, little druid."

Thal froze. He just knew it! This was all some sort of trap, though when they were caught on to he wasn't sure. Thal identified the owner of that voice before he even saw her face. He grabbed is Runeblade and held it out before him, a scowl on his face.

"Oh come come, Thal! Is that any way to great a friend?" said the woman.

"You're no friend of mine, Seliea."

Just like Thal, Seliea was a Death Knight. She had short green hair, darker than Seth's. Her skin was so pale it almost looked white. She bore markings that looked like an animal had scratched at her eye. Her armor was red and black, no doubt the finest armor you could find for a Death Knight. Her weapon was unlike any Seth had ever seen. It was a large two handed sword that was glowed blue and had purple enchanted runes carved into it. Seliea alone was intimidating enough, but that sword must have made her look twice as scary.

"Oh, and here I thought we were so close.. Looks as though you have a new friend. Don't be rude, Thal Introduce me!"

Seliea loved to play games, and this was one of them. Thal wasn't in the mood for games though.

"I don't have time for your games, Seliea. Now just get out of our way or I'll have to move you the hard way."

"You always were more of a fighter..."

Seliea and Thal rushed at each other, weapons in hand. Seth tried to pay attention, but her head hurt too much. The noise those two were making didn't help her either. It was like there was this loud clashing noise right next to her head. She was so preoccupied with her own pain, she hadn't even noticed when Kai started acting strange. He started moving around as if trying to avoid something.

"Kai, will you settle down? Please, my head is killing me."

Seth opened her eyes and realized why Kai was moving so much. There were several cultists surrounding him trying to knock her off and Kai was trying to get around them. "Shit," Seth cursed under her breath. Coming out of her stupor for a moment, she took hold of Kai's reins and tried to steer him away from the cultist. There was no point, since the cultists had started attacking Kai's legs. With a slash from one of their daggers, Kai's legs gave in under him and he came crashing to the ground throwing Seth off in the process.

Hearing the commotion behind him, Thal turned and Death Gripped one of the cultists, killing him in one swing. Before he could pull another, however, he felt himself being lifted up into the air and something tightening around his throat.

"Strangulating is a very nice technique to have up your sleeve," remarked Seliea. She looked over to find two of the Cultists had restrained Kai and Seth had fallen unconscious. "You should take better care of your things, Thal. She looks like she's almost dead! We'll almost will have to do for now."

"Let her go, Seliea!" Thal choked out.

Seliea looked Thal in the eye. There was a shine their, a glimmer she had only seen once before. Then and their, Seliea confirmed it. Seth was Thal's weekness.

"She's more than just a friend to you, isn't she?" teased Seliea. Thal continued to try and break free, totally ignoring her. "How cute. Like father like son they say." She paused. "Well, in this case it would be more like mother like son..."

"That has nothing to do with it!" shot Thal as Seliea's grip tightened.

Seliea thought about killing him right then and there, but an even better idea came to her. She smirked. "Lets make a deal, you and I." Thal didn't respond. "Good! If you come with us, without resistance, I promise not to hurt a single hair on your lover's head. Do we have a deal?" Seliea let her grip go and Thal fell to the ground, choking and gasping for air.

He could turn around and kill every cultist with his ghoul army, but it took time to summon them all. He didn't have time. If he tried to do it himself, he would undoubtedly be killed by Seliea. This was the best option he had. At least Seth wouldn't get hurt. Or so he thought.

"Alright," said Thal. He didn't meet Seliea's eyes when he said it, nor did he look at her when she laughed and his cultists took him away. She summoned a Death Gate that would take them right to Icecrown Citadel. As Thal was about to step into it, Seliea spoke.

"I promise not to hurt a single hair on the girls head, Thal. But I can't say the same thing for the Master."

Before he could even reply, he was pushed into the Death Gate and vanished. Seliea smiled to herself. Men in love were such gullible fools. She couldn't blame him though. Seth had a way of getting into people's hearts and making sure she stayed there. As she turned away from the gate, she noticed the Talbuk laying in the snow, blood coming from a gash in it's legs. It was looking straight at her, as if expecting her to do something. Seliea approached the Talbuk and bend down to get at eye level with it. It wasted no time licking her face off. Seliea gently stroked the beast's muzzle. Then she pulled out some ointment and bandages. She applied the ointment to the wounds after cleaning them and finished by wrapping them in some bandages. She left some food and water for the Talbuk before standing up. Seliea walked over to Seth and picked her up bridal style. Before stepping into the Death Gate, she looked at the Talbuk one last time and it nodded to her. She smiled, and walked through the gate.

* * *

**I was originally planning to write the whole battle scene between Seliea and Thal, but I just couldn't think of anything -_-' . So instead I opted for this! I really really loved the ending of this one. You may not understand it fully, but if your remember something from the previous chapters, then you should parly understand. Unfortunately, Thal isn't in the next few chapters =( GIMBLY IS THOUGH! ^^ I know, I'ma stinker XD**

**~Viv~**


	14. The Halls of Reflection

**Chapter 14: The Halls of Reflection**

**Disclaimer:** Everything belongs to Blizzard Entertainment. I make no profit from this, but I do have fun writting it!

* * *

I wasn't sure how long I had been in that small room. I wasn't even sure on how I had gotten there. I guess I'd been captured. Thal must have been too, because there's no way he wouldn't have let them take me without a fight. I looked around my surroundings again. They must have placed me in the smallest prison cell they had. It looked more like a broom closet, really. There were no windows, and the only sign that this was a prison cell was the skeleton chained to the wall next to me. I sighed. My wrists were chained to the walls and my knees touched the ground. If I tried to stand, it felt like my wrists would snap from the pressure. They were chained nice and tight, and there was no hope of escaping.

I must have fallen asleep because some time later I awoke to the sound of the door opening. The hinges were so rusty, I'm sure anyone in this place could have heard it. It didn't help that I had sharper hearing than most mortals. A man dressed in reddish robes walked in with some sort of orb in his hands. I growled at him, something that surprised even me, letting him know he wasn't welcomed. It seemed to freak him out a bit. He must have decided he wanted to get out of there as fast as possible, because he started chanting some strange words in a language I couldn't recognize and the orb in his hands started to glow a dark purple, almost black, color. A cloud began to seep from the orb. The cloud turned into two dark purple hands and the slowly crept toward me. I tried to get away, but the chains wouldn't budge. The hands wrapped around my head and an immense pain shot through my skull. It was like a headache, a migraine, and a brain freeze all in one! My head felt like it was going literally going to explode or burst into flames. The last thing I saw before I fainted was a golden glow sinking into the orb. The door closed and I blacked out.

~*~*~*~*~ Here starts something totally new! ~*~*~*~*~

"You won't deny me this, Arthas! I must know... I must find out..."

"Lady Jaina, wait!"

"It's no use, Conway. The ghosts will appear any second now! Get over here!"

The paladin known as Conway ran over to the left side of the circular room. The shaman who had called to him was behind part of the wall along with the rest of their group. Just as the shaman has said, the ghosts began to attack them right when Conway got into position. After four waves of ghosts, one of Arthas' scourge commanders, Falric, became the groups next opponent He wasn't much of a challenge thanks to Anazi's Tremor Totem. After four more waves another of Arthas' scourge commanders, known as Marwin, tried to stop the group. He posed no real threat and was easily dealt with. Once the scourge commanders had been dealt with, the group took a quick break.

"Where did Jaina get to?" asked a Gnome mage.

"She ran down the hall," replied a Human rogue.

"Then let's stop sitting here and go after her!" suggested Conway.

The group took off down the hallway and soon ran into some trouble when a giant bone sentinel spotted them. It took them a few moments, and after dealing with ghosts that looked like themselves, they were ready to continue on again when the healer stopped them.

"Guys, wait," he said.

"What is it, Taylon? Do you need to take a quick mana break?" asked Conway.

"No, it's just...I feel something. Something alive."

"It's probably just Jaina," replied Jin, the human rogue.

"No, it's different. Almost...druidic."

"Are you sure?"

Taylon nodded his head firmly.

"Guys, I don't think we have time for this. We're going to have to forget it and continue on," said Anazi.

"What if it's a member of the alliance, or a prisoner? We can't just leave them!" argued Taylon.

"But Jaina's in danger! Who knows how long she can hold her own against the Lich King!" Anazi argued back.

"All life is sacred. I can't just go on knowing there's something alive in here!" Taylon took off in the direction he felt the life. Shortly after, Conway and Twixi were on his heals.

"Damn him and his 'all life is sacred' bullshit," mumbled Jin as he and Anazi took off after them.

The ran west of the remains of the bone sentinel and turned down a smaller hall, only to have it come to a dead end.

"It's right behind here! I can feel it!" shouted Taylon.

"But it's a dead end," stated Twixi.

"No it's not," said Jin. He bent down and pulled a loose tile from the floor. Then he stepped on some sort of switch, and a piece of the wall before them pushed itself open.

Taylon was the first one to see the uncontentious Night Elf. He hurried over to her and tried to budge the chains, but there was no way they were coming off without the key.

"I can't get them off," said Taylon, tugging at the chains.

"Let me see them," said Jin. He took out some sort of small tool and stuck it into the lock on the chains. After wiggling it around a bit, they unhooked and the Nigh Elf's left hand fell free. Jin did the same with her other hand and ankles. She fell free from the wall and into Taylon's arms.

"She alive?" asked Conway.

"Yeah. She doesn't seem to be too badly injured. I can't figure out why she's uncontentious."

"Maybe it's from the smell in here," remarked Anazi. "Can we go now? Jaina's still in trouble, remember?"

Taylon threw the Night Elf over his shoulder and the group made their way back through the hall and eventually found Jaina in a battle with the Lich King. By the looks of things, they had arrived just in time.

"Your allies have arrived Jaina, just as you promised. Hahahahaha...You will all become powerful agent's of the scourge."

The group ran toward an opening in the room that resembled the throne room in Lorderon. Jaina froze the Lich King in a giant block of ice and turned to follow the heros.

"He is too powerful. We must leave this place at once! My magic can hold him in place for only a short time. Come quickly heroes!"

The group began to run out on a frosty path surrounded by ice. The Lich King thawed and began to follow them. Before they could get too far, the Lich King put a giant ice wall in their way.

"There is no escape!"

"I will destroy this barrier," Jaina told the group. "You must hold the undead back!"

The Lich King sent a small force of ghouls at the group, but Jin's Fan of Knives and Twixi's Blizzard made quick work of them. He sent an scourge witchdoctor after them, but it too was destroyed fairly quick. Taylon only had one free hand to cast heals with, and since he had the uncontentious Night Elf on his shoulder, he couldn't shift into tree form. Thankfully, Conway was one of those Paladin tanks that didn't need much healing. Actually, tanks these days rarely needed healing. Jaina broke through the barrier and they continued to run.

"Feel the chill of the grave!" The Lich King put another barrier in their way and sent more undead at them.

This continued on until Jaina had broken the fourth and final barrier. They had barely survived that one. Since Taylon was handicapped, as it were, Anazi had to help him heal, therefore the Lich King had almost gotten them. They continued running only to be confronted with a dead end.

"It...it's a dead end. We have no choice but to fight. Steel yourselves, heroes, for this is our last stand!"

The Lich King laughed as he pointed Frostmourne at Jaina. "No where to run. You're mine now!"

A loud noise approached from behind them, and the group turned to look as the Skybreaker rose up.

"Fire! Fire!"

Several fireballs were launched right above the Lich King's head and the cave collapsed in on him, freeing Jaina from his grasps.

"Quickly! Climb aboard," called someone from the ship. "We mustn't terry here. There's no telling when this whole mountain side will collapse."

"Forgive me, heroes. I should have listened to Uther. I... I had to see for myself. To look into his eyes one last time. I am sorry."

Jaina followed the heroes on to the Skybreaker and opened a portal to Dalaran as the ship flew away.

"We now know what must be done. I will deliver this news to king Varian and High lord Fordring."

Twixi, Anazi, and Jin took the portal to Dalaran. Conway and Taylon stayed on the Skybreaker and told the captain about the Night Elf they had found. Since there was no real medic on the ship, they decided to take her to the Shadow Vault and seek help. Hopefully when she awoke, they could get some answers.

* * *

**Lot's of talking in this chapter...Half the chapter is made of talking! Oh well. This was really just a filler chapter. I had to get Seth out of there somehow! Unfortunately, there won't be any more of Thal for another two or so chapters. Don't worry! He's not dead!...Yet..XD (No, I'm not going to kill Thal.)**

**Next Time: Gimbly finds out Seth is alive and Seth wonders what happened to Thal.**


	15. Things Forgotten and Missed

**Chapter 15: **Things Forgotten and Missed

**Disclaimer: World of Warcraft** belongs to Blizzard Entertainment.

* * *

There was that pain again. Always in my head. Why? It was like I had a headache ever time I woke up. It was really starting to annoy me. I didn't want to open my eyes, because I knew the pain would just get worse as my eyes tried to adjust to whatever lighting they found. I wanted to go back to sleep so the pain would go away. I really didn't want to deal with this right now. I turned over on my side...Wait...I could move? I slowly opened my eye. There was a giant face right in front of me. I screamed and jumped back off the bed landing on the floor with a loud thud.

"Ow.." I muttered under my breath. First my head, now my back. How much more would I have to take?

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Seth!" cried a high pitched little voice.

That brightened my whole day. I looked up over the bed in disbelief. On the other side, struggling to climb up onto the bed, was a cute little head with green pigtails. As she raised herself on to the bed, I recognized her face immediately.

"Gimbly...? Is that you?" I whispered.

"Oh geeze, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" she apologized.

My arms shot out toward her and I pulled her into a hug. I hadn't seen Gimbly in so long! My heart was fluttering so fast in excitement. I hugged her tighter. She was like a baby doll in my hands; she was so small! I had forgotten just how small she was.

"Seth! Can't...Breathe!"

"Sorry!" Immediately I let go of her and set her back on the bed. "Gimbly! I can't believe it's you! Are you alright? How have you been? Oh my gosh I missed you so much! Have you always had green hair?" So many things shot out of my mouth at one time, they all started to jumble together and I didn't even realize I started talking Darnassian till Gimbly told me to shut up. I apologized again.

"I forgot how much you love to talk," said Gimbly sitting down on the bed. I did the same on the floor, noticing I was wearing my favorite blue silk shirt and black leather pants. I noticed for the first time that Gimbly seemed older somehow. She had bags under her eyes and her face had gotten longer maybe? I couldn't quite tell. "I've been busy as of late doing research. A lot has changed since I saw you last. I won't go into too much detail as of right now." She smiled at me. "I've missed you so much, Seth. After you didn't return, I got so worried. I even went out to search for you several times, but I never found you. I knew you were strong and I never gave up hope." A lone tear trickled down Gimbly's cheek. I placed my hand on her head, reassuring her everything was fine now. She smiled again. "My hair was pink before, but one of my experiments turned it green. Go figure, eh?"

We talked for hours, Gimbly and I. She asked me all kinds of questions. I answered them the best I could. It was hard. At first, I wasn't sure If I should tell her about Thal. He was horde, after all. Gimbly was my friend, and I knew she wouldn't judge me. So I told her about him. At first she was really skeptical. Probably because I had told her he was a Death Knight. After traveling with him, I guess I learned to respect Death Knights a little bit. I still wouldn't trust one with my life, but they were bearable. Gimbly told me that was a good thing. We were at the Shadow Vault right now, and the place was run with Death Knights. That brought tons of questions out of me, but she wouldn't answer any of them until I finished my story. So I continued on, telling her about my week in Hyjal, leaving out the bit with Thal and I dancing on the lake of course. When I told her about the Shades chasing us, I couldn't quite recall why they were chasing us exactly. I mentally shrugged and passed it off as something Thal had done before I met him.

We must have sat there for hours talking about my trip. By the end of it, I was extremely hungry. Gimbly laughed as my stomach growled. After putting on some warmer clothes, Gimbly and I were heading for the Argent Tournament.

"What's the Argent Tournament?" I asked.

"It's a giant tournament hosted by the Argent Crusade. There's jousting and drinks and a giant arena where some of the best hero's of the alliance and horde fought against Northrend's fiercest monsters! It was magnificent! There were many lives lost, though.."

I mouthed a silent "Oh" and we continued on to what appeared to be the stables. "Aren't we taking a gryphon? I don't think any of my mounts are here," I said.

"Gryphons are way too slow. I have something faster." Gimbly walked in and returned shortly ridding on what looked like a rocket built for two.

"What _is_ that?" I asked.

"It's a rocket, what does it look like?"

I poked it and it swiveled a bit. "Are you sure it's safe?" I asked hopping on.

"Of course I'm sure! I built the thing!"

"Oh yes, I feel very safe now.."

I could tell Gimbly was rolling her eyes even though I couldn't see it. She hit a few buttons and the rocket stuttered, before shooting off into the air. I almost fell off thanks to the sudden movement. Gimbly wasn't lying when she said it was fast. We flew over Icecrown like a shooting star. Most of what I saw was mountains, so I couldn't make out our exact location.

The tournament was so large! There were like ten different small arena's and one giant one in the middle. Several tents were scattered about with Argent Crusaders in them. Horde and alliance both were there seemingly having fun. I couldn't wait to get some food and try jousting for myself!

Gimbly showed me where everything was and I grabbed some food as soon as I was able. I had some Baked Manta Ray with some cold milk to wash it down. After we ate, I went over to the stables and mounted up, lance in hand. Gimbly came along with me and the two of us learned to joust! I would have thought Gimbly would have already learned as soon as the tournament arrived, but she claimed she had been to busy at the time to joust. After that we talked some more and wandered around the tournament grounds. As luck would have it, there were a few Alliance members getting ready to enter the grand arena to fight against members of the horde and face a few other challenges as well. I dragged Gimbly with me as I made my way towards the stadium and into the seats. I'd never had so much fun in my life!

Near the end of the game, I got a bit freaked out because The Black Knight showed up, but Gimbly assured me it was one of the Argent Crusade acting like The Black Knight. I took her word for it. After that, Gimbly and I sat down to eat before we went home.

"So Gimbly, what's the point of the tournament anyway?" I asked.

"Well, the Argent Crusade set up the tournament as a test to see which of the 25 most skilled Alliance and Horde champions would march with Lord Tirion to Icecrown Citadel. That happened over a month ago. The victors left this morning to make there way through Icecrown Citadel and confront the Lich King. My prayers are with them," she explained.

"Oh." I couldn't believe that maybe in a weeks time everything we fought for here in Icecrown could come to an end and the Lich King could be slain. Something in the back of my mind was telling me I had forgotten something extremely important, but I couldn't recall what. Instead of thinking on the matter, Gimbly and I flew to Dalaran, rented a room at the inn, and got a good night's rest. I had a hard time falling asleep. Now I felt as if I had forgotten something, and something was missing. Eventually, I pushed it away and got some sleep.

* * *

**Another filler chapter. I thought this was going to be hard to write, but it actually came out easily. Cookies to anyone who can figure out what Seth forgot and what she misses! Also, I took a Mary-Sue Litmus Test for Seth and Thal. Basically it tells you how original your characters are or how "Mary-Sue like" they are. The higher you score the more "Mary-Sue" like they are...Seth scored an 89 =(. Thal scored a 14! ^^ **

**Next Time: Seth realizes what she's missing and starts getting ready to get it back!**

**~Viv~**


	16. Surprises Around Every Corner

**Chapter 16:** Surprises Around Every Corner

**Disclaimer:** Bleh Blah Bleh Leather Pants

* * *

I sat with my feet dipped into the water and the hem of the skirt was sitting at my knees. It felt so good just to relax for a change instead of worrying about fighting or the Lich King. I was back in Hyjal now. Thal had built us a little cottage right where our base camp use to be all those years ago. We were happy here, just the two of us. Of course, only our closes friends knew where we were and they often came to visit. I smiled, thinking of all the wonderful memories Thal and I had had together so far.

I turned my head to see Thal coming back from his afternoon hunt. He didn't seem to have caught anything today, which was odd. Usually he would at least come back with one or two Hare. I stood up and went to give him a welcome back kiss, when I noticed his face look awfully grave.

"Thal, what's wrong?" I asked concerned. "I understand if you didn't catch anything. We could always have some fish." I took his hands in mine and smiled at him, but it didn't seem like that helped.

"It's not dinner I'm worried about," he replied, not even looking at me.

"Then what is it?"

Now he looked me straight in the eyes and I saw it. Every emotion was gone. No matter how hard I searched, I couldn't find one. He gripped my hands tightly and pulled me into a hug. Normally, I wouldn't mind the chill of his skin, but there was something unsettling about it now.

"I'm changing, Seth, and not for the better. I'm going away for a while, and no matter how long I'm gone, you have to promise you won't come looking for me, alright?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, still embraced in a hug. My eyes began to water. "How long will you be gone?"

He purposely skipped the first question and let out a sigh. "I don't know. Just promise me, you won't come looking for me, alright?" He let go of me.

"I can't do that, Thal!" I said shaking my head. He gripped my shoulders hard. I was sure there was going to be a bruise there later. I couldn't hold my tears back any longer, and they began to fall freely down my face.

"Promise me, Seth! Promise me!" When I didn't respond, he sighed and wiped away my tears and made circles under my eyes with his thumb. "Please don't cry, Seth..." his voice seemed to fade away then, and he was gone when I looked.

"Thal?" I called. "Thal! Thal! I promise Thal! Please, come back!"

I woke up with a start. What a strange dream. I yawned and stretched tiredly. Reality hit me like a herd of Kodo. I was safe and warm in Dalaran, but Thal was still somewhere in Icecrown Citadel. I couldn't believe I forgot about Thal! The first thing I asked myself was if he was still alive. Could he be dead? Was he badly injured and close to death? Was he okay? I felt so bad for just leaving him there. If I had been conscious when those heroes had retrieved me from the Halls of Reflection, I would have insisted they save Thal too, and if they wouldn't, I would have done it myself...wait..Of course! I could go into Icecrown Citadel and look for Thal myself! Since the Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron, and Halls of Reflection had already have been cleared out with no sign of any Alliance or Horde prisoners (with the exception of me), I would probably be safe to assume Thal wasn't being held there. That just left the main citadel itself. With the Horde and Alliance already clearing a path through it, I probably wouldn't run into any problems until I ran into the adventurers themselves.

What would I need to bring, though? I shot out of bed and began getting dressed. Thankfully, Gimbly had someone make me a knew set of armor. While it was still the armor I wore in Icecrown, it was no longer the "best of the best". I didn't care though. I didn't think I would run into much danger anyway. But if I did, would I need backup? No! Out of the question. None of my friends would approve of me doing this. They'd think I was risking my life for something stupid. I couldn't ask just anyone for help, because the chosen group was already in Icecrown Citadel and it would seem weird to bring even more people in there. I would have to do this alone. I would need a lot of supplies.

I went to the innkeeper and bought some water off of her. It would be cold, and I would need to stay hydrated. I checked my bank to see if I had any cooking materials around. I found some chilled meat, some spices, and a few other things so I made myself some Dalaran Stew in case I got hungry. I stocked up on reagents and made myself a few flasks before I returned to my room at the inn and packed it all in a backpack, careful not to break the flasks or spill the stew. I hadn't seen Gimbly around, and I knew she would come looking for me sooner or later. I left a note on the door as I exited my room, telling her that I had left to go see my brother in Darnassus and that I would be back as soon as possible. I didn't really like lying to her, but this was more important to me right now. She would eventually go to Darnassus and find out I was lying and then she would worry. I would have to make it up to here when and if I returned.

I checked out of the inn and hurried over to the stable master. Waving to her, I told her I was taking my hippogryph out with me for today. She nodded her understanding and I went to retrieve it. My hippogryph gave me an enthusiastic welcome back when he saw me approach. I hugged him in reply, and told him I had missed him as well. Then I told him the seriousness of this mission, and he fully complied, flying me out of Dalaran and toward I.C.C faster than he had ever flown before. It only took us five minutes to reach the citadel. I had been inside of it once, but it didn't seem so big nor menacing from there. The Ashen Verdict had set up a small camp just outside of the citadel. I directed my hyppogryph to fly strait past the doors and land inside. The less people who saw me here, the better. I dismounted from my mount and gave him an affectionate stroke on the beak before. There wasn't any point in having him fly around the citadel for hours, since I might not even be coming back. With one last good-bye, I sent him back to Dalaran.

The hallway into the citadel was long, and there would probably be more members of the Ashen Verdict waiting at the end. I shifted into cat form and started prowling around. It didn't take long to reach the end of the hall and just as I had suspected, there was a group of the Ashen Verdict guarding it. Careful not to alert anyone to my presence, I snuck around then and made my way into the next room. There wasn't a single soul in sight. It was a clear walk straight through to a large blue room at the end. Thinking I was safe, I picked up my pace just a bit only to stumble over something.

"Who...goes there...?" said a loud, booming voice.

I looked around, frantic that I someone had seen me. I looked behind me and saw one of the giant bone sentinel statues I had passed was now walking around. The men by the door quickly took notice and rushed up to attack it before it spotted me. My heart was hammering in my chest and I dashed out of there into the blue room.

The first think I noticed was the pile of large bones located next to what appeared to be a ramp. This must have been the first guardian of the citadel that the adventurers had to deal with. The next thing I noticed was the cold atmosphere. This place chilled me to the bones, literally. Not wanting to terry there any longer, I made my way around the guardian's corpse and up the ramp. There was a wide opening to the right and some steps leading down into what looked like some sort of Cathedral set up. I could see the large elevator rise and fall in the background. I continued forward on the ramp and found a small hallway lined with torches. As much as things like this freaked me out, I went down it anyway.

There were no other passes to take in this hallway, just turns every now and then. Eventually, I came across a large stairwell that seemed to lead down into some sort of dungeon. There were no torches down here, so I had to use my well adapted senses to find my way around in the dark. I let out soft growls every now and then and used my ears to catch the echoes, almost like echolocation. It seemed to go on forever, just like everything in this place. When I reached the bottom of the steps, I could make out a faint light illuminating a lone door a bit away. I looked around, but couldn't exactly pinpoint where the light was coming from, seeing as there were no windows and it was always dark in Icecrown.

I slowly made my way over to the door. It was a dark metallic color with several skulls decorating it here and there. The handles were in the shape of two large bones, easily bigger than myself by a foot or two. Small little patterns decorated the outside edges of the door. Quickly shifting out of my cat form, I gripped them and pushed the door, shifting back into my cat form as the doors slowly creaked open.

~*~*~*~Bugs are icky~*~*~*~

"What do you mean Seth isn't here?" asked Gimbly. "There was a note on her bedroom door at the inn that said she was going to be visiting you!"

"Well, you might have read it wrong," replied a male Night Elf, "because I haven't seen or heard from here in three years."

"I have the note right here!" said Gimbly.

She took the paper out of her pocket and handed it to the Night Elf. He bent down to retrieve it and read it over carefully. Gimbly was right. His sister had said she was going to visit him first thing in the morning, and it was well past noon. This wasn't like Seth. Before he could even come up with a logical explanation to why she would do something like this, there was a frantic knock at his front door. He handed the note back to Gimbly and answered the door. There was another Night Elf, one Cyonic hadn't expected to see quite so soon. She was clad in black and red armor with short semi-dark green hair. She seemed to be panting. He quickly stepped aside without a word and let her pass. She sat down on the small chair in Cy's living room.

"I know...where Seth is..." said the Night Elf between breaths.

"Where?" asked Cy giving the Night Elf a glass of water.

She greedily chugged it down and handed him the glass as she stood back up. "She's gone to rescue the halfbreed, Thaladona. If we don't hurry now, she's going to get herself killed!"

Cy rushed into a back room to gather supplies while Gimbly stared in disbelief. Who was this strange Death Knight who knew about Thaladona?

"Who are you?" asked Gimbly.

"My name is Seliea," said the Night Elf Death Knight. "I'm Seth's sister."

* * *

**Mwahaha! Cliiiiiiffffhaaaaanger! XD Bet you didn't see THAT comming! Now do you get back in chapter 14 why Kia liked her so much? Some of you were totaly oblivious to it! Trust me, I do everything for a reason...Ok not really. So, I know what you're thinking. "Woah, 2 chapters in 1 week! What's wrong with you, Viv?" Well, I went through the other day and reread this story, and realized I LOVE IT SOO MUCH. I literally got to chapter 15 and said "Aww, thats it?" XD **

**I know this may seem like a shock, but theres like two more chapters after this one. I know right? /cry! Since we're so close to the end, I'm going to try to update every week, or every other week depending on if I'm not that busy. So, until then!**

**~Viv~**


	17. A Quick History Lesson

**Chapter 17:** A Quick History Lesson

**Disclaimer: **God I wish I owned WoW. It would be so much better (not really) if I did.

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"Woah woah, back up. So, you're telling me you know all of this because your mentor was Thal's father? And you like, stalked him from a far? Did you know at the time that it was considered extremely creepy to do that? He was still a child, for God's sake!"

"Look, it's not as creepy as you make it sound! I was curious okay? And I don't regret it because when he became a Death Knight I was there to make sure he didn't turn out bad!"

"Which is another thing! Why did Arthas make you 'almost' his right hand man if he knew you were going to betray him?"

"Will you just drop it? It's extremely complicated and unless you were there, I doubt you will EVER understand!"

Cyonic sighed again. They were all sitting in his living room waiting around for something. It had only take him a minute to gather his supplies and get Saber, his trusty cat, but when he had returned Gimbly and Seliea were arguing about this. They had been going on for five minutes already! Basically, the story went something like this.

A little over 30 years ago, Seliea got a letter from her old mentor that said he wasn't doing well and she should come see him as soon as possible. Of course, Seliea flew out to him the very next day. It turns out that Malforn, Seliea's mentor, was dying (of natural causes, of course). The two of them were very close. After Cy, Seliea, and Seth's parents had died, Malforn had basically considered them all his children. The Saberwind and Windwatcher families were both very close. Anyway, Malforn told Seliea about how he had fallen in love with a Blood Elf, and how she was already pregnant with his first child. Seliea was more than happy for him. She wasn't too concerned that he was in love with on of the horde. He asked her if she would watch over his child after it was born and help support it and it's mother. Of course, she promised.

The next day Seliea and Malforn traveled to the small cottage Kentia, Malforn's lover, was staying at. At first she was extremely afraid and confused, but once Malforn explained the situation Kentia wasn't as worried. Kentia was wary of Seliea in the beginning, but soon warmed up to her after seeing she really wasn't going to give them away. Three months later, Kentai gave birth to a son named Thaladona. Seliea personally went back to Malforn to give him the news. A day after hearing he had a son, Malforn passed away.

Kentia was struck with a wave of extreme sorrow, and for a long time would cry endlessly. Eventually, Kentia realized this isn't what Malforn would have wanted. With a lot of help from Seliea and baby Thal, Kentia began to heal and cried less and less.

In Thal's early years, Kentia would need a lot of help from Seliea. When he became older, around the age of five, Seliea began showing up less and less. Kentia was doing well on her own. She had gotten herself a steady job as a tailor and had moved back into Silvermoon so Thal could grow up around other Blood Elves. Even though Seliea was no longer around, the two kept in touch with letters. When Kentai passed away, Seliea went and payed her respects privately. She was buried out by the small cottage she had once owned. After that, Seliea lost touch with the Tempest family.

The story went on to tell about how Seliea met up with Thal when he became a Death Knight, and how she practically trained him. Of course, Cy didn't feel like recalling all that information. He was actually curious as to why Seliea and Gimbly had stopped fighting. He lifted his head to look at the two. Both had their arms crossed and heads turned in the opposite direction. It was very childish if you asked him. No one did. Instead he cleared his throat and stood up.

"Why are we just sitting around here again?" he asked.

"Well, I thought Ms. Yourstorydoesn'tmakesense over here would have whipped us up a portal instead of arguing with me and wasting precious time, but I guess I was wrong," stated Seliea.

"And what makes you think I'm a mage, Ms. Itstoocomplicatedtounderstand?" retorted Gimbly.

Seliea turned and looked Gimbly up and down. "Your outfit?" she said.

Gimbly looked down at herself and mouthed a silent "Oh". She could have been a priest, but that wasn't the case. A pink hue lit up Gimbly's cheeks as she realized she HAD wasted precious time by not creating a portal right away. With a silent "Sorry" to Seliea, she began to cast the spell that would take them all to Dalaran. From there they would get a gryphon and fly to Icecrown.

* * *

As soon as Seth walked into the room, she felt something within herself tighten. She looked around wearily. It was just a giant circle room that sort of resembled the Throne Room of Lorderon, only minus the throne. Seth did a quick reconnaissance, checking for hidden doors or traps. When she found none, she headed back for the door. What she hadn't realized was that it had shut silently behind her. She started to panic a little. Shifting out of her cat form she walked over to the door and tried to pull it open, but it wouldn't budge. It was like it was locked from the outside or it's hinges had suddenly frozen. Now that Seth didn't have her warm fur keeping her warm, she noticed there was a chill in this room unlike the chill in the rest of the Citadel. So it was totally possible that the door had in fact frozen.

Seth took a few steps back and shifted into her bear form. She took off charging at the door. She wasn't the fastest, but she was sure if the door was frozen her weight would break the ice and the door would go flying open. She landed against the door with a loud thud. She backed up farther and tried again with the same results. Seth backed up as far as the room would allow her (which was about 20 yards) and rammed the door one last time. When the door still wouldn't budge, she gave up. It was probably locked from the outside. She shifted back into her normal form and began casting a healing spell on her now bruised shoulder. When no green light appeared around her or her hands, she tried again. Still nothing happened. She tried a different spell, but got the same result. What was going on? Were her healing spells somehow being blocked!

"Quite the show you put on there," said a sweet melodic voice from above her. There was something odd in it, but Seth recognized the voice. Her heart skipped a beat as she looked up. There was a small balcony protruding from the wall that she had failed to notice before. It wasn't the balcony she was looking at though, it was the person standing on it.

There he was in all his blue eyed and blue haired glory. She looked up at him with relief, curiosity, and...fear? He didn't look much different from when she had seen him last, but she could tell he had changed. Before when he had looked at her, she could see several mixed emotions in his eyes, but now all she saw was amusement.

"Speechless? Well, I knew I looked good, but I didn't know I looked _that_ good."

No matter how much he changed, he would always find ways to make Seth blush, even at the most inappropriate times.

"Thal! I thought you were a goner! When I woke up and realized you were still here, I had to come looking for you," she blurted out. Boy, what a thing to say.

"Doggies always find there way back to their masters they say," said Thal. Seth took a few steps back. While she normally would have been pissed at anyone else, she was more alert and scared than anything else right now. She knew why Thal was so different now. He was back under the Lich Kings control.

"Before we begin, I should tell you. There's been a special enchantment placed upon this room that blocks all kinds of healing. So, sorry to say, it's either kill or be killed this time." Thal reached behind himself and grabbed his runeblade. Patting it gently, he said "Now that thats out of the way..." He smiled at Seth. "May I have this dance, My Lady?" With that, Thal jumped of the balcony, runeblade in hand, and charged straight for Seth.

* * *

**Mwahaha! Cliffy! God, I'm so evil! So, there's probably going to be three more chapter after this. I know this chapter was pretty short, but dude, I'm building suspense here! The next chapter is the freaking CLIMAX! And don't worry! I plan to have it out by Tuesday so stay on the edge of your seats because you are in for one hell of a crappy battle scene!**

**Lots of Love! ~ViV~**

**Edit: God, I had to upload this three times because it wouldn't fix a small spelling error!**


	18. Confessions Too Late

**Chapter 18:** Confessions Too Late

**Disclaimer:** *Insert wish to own WoW here*

**Warning! The following chapter contains an extremely crappy battle scene, slight cursing, and may even make you cry. (Make sure you have a tissue at the ready!) Read at your own risk!**Shit shit shit shit! Oh Elune oh my Elune! Left foot, right foot, left foot aaaand...yep. I tripped. Damn it!

* * *

I know I know, my thoughts seem almost totally random. Well, what did you expect them to sound like when I'm being attacked by Thal? "Gee, I wonder if he likes me?" or "Will we ever live together like in my dream?" If that's what you guessed, sorry but you're wrong. I have to admit, I was a little surprised that he actually attacked me! I mean, even if he was back on the Lich King's side, I thought he would have at least _some _restraint! Nope. He lunged at me and I basically had to fall over to stop him from chopping my head off. From there I started dodging his swings, jumping left and right, rolling, and all that jazz.

As sad as this may seem, when he recovered from his jump and first swung at me, I miscalculated the speed of his swing and got nicked on the shoulder. I could feel the blood running down my arm. The cut was in no way fatal, but it still hurt. Since there was a heal block on the room, I was trying to get hit as little as possible. Now, Thal being a Death Knight probably had energy to burn. He could do this for hours. I would only last maybe ten minutes. I cursed as I dodged another one of his swings. I've been getting rusty.

My survival instincts had been clawing at my mind, telling me to switch to cat form. I almost did at the start of the fight, until I realized that my feral side would have thought it was right about Thal all along and it would tear him to shreds, or at least try. So I was basically running for my life while debating with myself on the inside. If I didn't switch over soon, I was going to die. If I did switch, Thal might die or I might die. So, 100% chance having a bad ending for me and about a 66.6% chance of Thal getting a good ending. Not liking the odds.

Finally I got an opening. Thal swung his runeblade upward, trying to cut off my roll. I stopped just in time for him to swing at the wall and actually get his sword stuck in the wall. I stared for a second and briefly realized that that could have been me. Ouch. It only took a second for the thought "Just weaken him" to jump into my mind. I quickly shifted form and jumped on Thal's back while he tried to pull his sword out. I dug my claws into his skin near his neck and held on for dear life. My feral side was shouting "RIP HIS THROAT OUT!" but I couldn't bring myself to do it, of course. His whole torso shook as he tried to pull his runeblade out and shake me off. I could feel my claws ripping into his muscle as he did. When he jerked his sword out of the wall, I pushed off his back and let go, almost landing on the other side of the room. The smell of blood overwhelmed my senses. I looked down and saw my claws were covered in Thal's blood. I almost puked.

"You got lucky," he spat, readying himself for another attack. "But you luck's about to run out."

He pulled me toward him with a death grip and his sword collided with my right back paw as I tried to bounce off. If that had gone in slow motion, it would have looked totally cool with the blood splattering onto his blade after it shot out of my paw. But when I landed I let out a yelp. He had cut the bottom of my right paw, and sliced the side of it clear open. There was a gross greenish brown coloring starting to form, and I was positive it was infected. I had to refrain from putting pressure on it because it hurt so damn much to walk. This was really going to slow me down.

I had to end this quick, and I had to end it in my favor. Maybe after the fight was over, the heal block on the room would lift and I would be able to heal any fatal wounds before Thal died. Hopefully he would be back to his normal self after this too.

After receiving a few more cuts from Thal thanks to my unusable leg, I just let lose. I paid close attention so I could stop myself when Thal was close to death. The look on Thal's face was priceless when I changed to bear form and charged him, knocking his runeblade out of his hand and bashing him to the floor. I clawed at his chest and he got a few good punches in before I switched to cat and backed off. Before he could do anything, I jumped at him.

Well, I tried anyway. Just at that moment, the whole citadel shook uncontrollably. It felt almost like an earthquake. There was a loud roar that filled the citadel. I assumed it was Arthas. I fell over on my side unable to get back up. Thal shoved his runeblade into the ground and held onto it, balancing himself. I looked at his eyes closely and noticed they fluctuated between deep sea blue and crystal blue. When the citadel finally stopped shaking, Thal's eyes went crystal blue before he fell over, clearly exhausted.

Throwing all rational thought out the window for a moment, I shifted back to my normal self and limped over to where he had fallen. There was so much blood I almost did hurl. The majority of it was Thal's, but a good portion of it was mine too. I was starting to feel light headed.

"Thal?" I managed to croak out. My voice sounded like someone hand sandpapered my throat, and it felt like that too. I swallowed hard.

Thal let out a loud groan and blinked his eyes open. They were almost a white color now.

"Seth...?" he whispered. He sounded so different now. So distant, like he could hear me, but couldn't see me.

"Right here," I said, grabbing his hand. "I'm right here Thal." The tears were coming, I could already feel them.

"You broke your promise," he whispered with a silly smile plastered onto his face. He looked so peaceful.

"What?"

"You promised you...you wouldn't come for me."

My dream. He was referring to the dream I had the other night. Had he actually been in my dream!

"I'm sorry. I couldn't help it," my voice cracked at the end and I furiously blinked back tears. "I went too far. I'm so sorry Thal! I never meant for any of this to happen." Several tears fell from my eyes onto his cheeks.

"Only pansies cry because of a few cuts," Thal muttered.

Even when he was this close to death, he could still be humorous. I let out a half hearted chuckle. I had been trying to heal his wounds this whole time, physical contact was only needed for serious wounds which is why I grabbed his hands. They were so cold. Colder than when he had wrapped them around me when we were ridding Brusha out of Hyjal and much colder than when we had danced on the lake. All those memories made me start crying a waterfall. I moved my head so they wouldn't fall onto Thal's face.

"I...I have to...tell...something."

"What? Tell me what, Thal?" I tried to make it sound like I wasn't going into hysterics, but I probably failed miserably.

"I think," Thal started, then took one long breath. "I think I might love you, Seth."

As if his dying wasn't enough, now he tells me what I've wanted to hear since forever. My heart skipped more than a few beats. For a second, it seemed to stop.

"I think I love you, too," I managed in between sobs.

"I'll be waiting at Hyjal...always."

Thal's eyes closed and his hand went limp in mine. I screamed and threw myself on top of him, crying, begging for him to come back to me. Something tried to tear me away from him, but I wouldn't let him go. Not now, not ever! Another something grabbed me, and this time succeeded in breaking my hold on Thal. I kicked and screamed and tried to make out the figures and the voices, but it all blurred together. Thal seemed to get farther and farther away, and I kept screaming his name, but he wouldn't respond. He just lie there, motionless. My tears blurred my vision and my loss of blood was making me so light headed. Thal's body disappeared from my vision, and then all I saw was black.

The only thing I could hear was Thal's voice. He kept saying "I'll be waiting at Hyjal...always."

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**I told myself I wasn't going to cry...And i DID! /cry! One more chapter...One more..can't believe it. I was listening to Fireflies by Owl City and I remembered the scene in hyjal where they danced on the water and it gave me an idea for a totally uber ending, even better than the one i planned before! So, this story is comming to an end Friday, folks! Toll then! Also, have a tissue box handy, you might cry there too!**

**Till then!**

**~Viv!**


	19. Together in Hyjal Again

**Chapter 19:** Together in Hyjal Again

**Disclaimer: **Dunt own notin =(

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I don't even know where to begin. So much has happened just in these last few hours, and my whole system is out of whack. I've been asleep since I got back to my house in Darnassus. God, was I a mess. Bloody, torn to shreds, and crying my eyes out. I don't even want to talk about it, let alone remember it.

Have you ever had one of those moments, where you just lay on your bed and stare at the ceiling, going through your whole life and seriously thinking about it? Like, wondering why you chose to do something on a deeper scale than "Oh I wanted to" or "It was the right thing to do"? I'd been literally reliving my life for the past five hours. Everything from the beginning right up until I met...I can't even think about anything related to him. It's so hard. Everything about him fills my senses; his smell, the feel of his skin against mine, the sound of his voice. I can barely have a train of thought that doesn't pertain to him. And every time I think about it, I cry. I'm surprised I haven't cried all the fluids out of my body yet.

This wasn't the first time I'd had someone close to me die. Hell, I thought Seliea was dead until this morning. That had made me forget about Thal for maybe a millisecond. Not even that could cheer me up. There was just something about Thal's death that hit me so hard, so fast, and so deep that I fell into a trillion tiny pieces. I couldn't put myself back together, because half of who I was was lost when Thal died. It was like trying to put together a puzzle with only half the pieces. There's a beautiful picture waiting to be seen, but since you only have half of it you get frustrated. Maybe that's not the best description. It's extremely hard to think about this, let alone describe it.

I think what really got to me the most was what he had said. "I think I love you, Seth." It played over and over in my head a million times. Looking back, I probably loved Thal way before I regained my memory. If we hadn't been found and I hadn't regained my memory, we might have built a house there and lived in peace. Maybe even had a few children. It was eating me up inside that I was too afraid to admit I loved him until it was too late. I wonder if he felt the same.

That was another thing. What did he mean by, "I'll be waiting at Hyjal...always."? Was it suppose to mean when I died we would be together again in Hyjal? When I died...I don't think I could wait that long to see him again. There were several ways to speed up the inevitable, but I know that's not what Thal would have wanted. He would have wanted me to live my life fully, but then again I could be around for another thousand years or so.

I didn't even notice I had fallen asleep. I woke up to a knocking on my door. I got out of bed and made my way sluggishly toward the door downstairs. I hadn't really expected Cy to be standing behind the door when I opened it, but I was glad it was him. Some illogical part of my mind had wished it had been Thal, but I knew that was impossible. I invited Cy in and we sat down and talked for a while. He had brought me some of my favorite herbal tea. I made us a pot and we sat down in my den to talk. It was awkward at first because neither one of us knew how to get the other to start talking. Cy finally ended up asking me if I wanted to talk about it, and after that I just started from the beginning. The very beginning of the whole thing. This time I didn't leave a single detail out. After a long story and an even longer cry, I felt like some sort of small weight had been taken off my shoulders. Now someone else knew how I felt, or at least close to it. It was also nice to have someone to talk to about it.

After I had finished the whole pot of tea by myself, Cy took me out to grab something to eat. It was really nice of him. Growing up, the two of us weren't the closest siblings. I looked up to both him and Seliea. I thought the three of us would all grow up and be close to the same. When Cy became a Hunter, and Seliea a Warrior, I was really torn. I loved them both, but I didn't know which of them to follow. Of course, when Cy came home with Saber one day and I could understand him, Cy suggested I be a druid. I wasn't too thrilled with the idea, but once I found a trainer and learned how gifted I was, especially at such a young age I was smitten with the idea of becoming a druid. I rarely got to see my family during the time, but once I was close to complete with my studies I sought Seliea out. We got back in touch and stayed close up to when she "died", but I never got back in touch with Cy. I guess this was my chance to.

After lunch, we rode our mounts around Teldressil for a while and then came back to my house and hung out. It was so easy to keep my thoughts off Thal when I was with Cy. We talked about what he had been up to while I had been in Icecrown, things that happened when we were children, and how he was taking a break from training to recharge. I hadn't even noticed the sun had gone down until Cy said he had to be going. I hugged him goodbye and sent him off. I was somewhat happy after that, until my thoughts went to Thal. I cried again that night, but not as much as before.

~*~*~*~ Fluffy Pancakes are Fluffeh! ~*~*~*~

A whole week went by since Thal's death, and Seth seemed to be getting better every day. She was by no means over his death, and probably would still be mourning him for months to come. But today was a very special day for Seth. Even though she didn't feel special, today was her birthday. All of her friends had come to see her. Only Gimbly, Seliea, and Cy knew why she was feeling so down, but Seth did her best to seem cheery for everyone else. She really didn't want to tell them why she was so blue. If her friends saw anything, they didn't mention it and Seth was glad.

Around noon, Cy, Gimbly, and Seliea showed up at Seth's house. They had already baked her a cake, but they had a special gift for her they hoped would cheer her up. They had been preparing this for three days now. The three of them had planned to take Seth on a little trip. They thought she wouldn't want to come, but she surprised them all by being on board with the idea. Unfortunately, she didn't know she would be blindfolded. They didn't want her to know where they were going.

"Guys, I'm not so sure I want to go now," Seth said messing with her blindfold. Seliea smacked her hand down.

"Seth, if you keep messing with that I'm going to have to bind your hands too," Seliea threatened. "Besides, you already said you would go!"

The group had flown to Darkshore before and now that Seth had stopped messing with the blindfold and her mount was tied up to Cy's, they could leave. The group traveled south to Ashenvale at a swift pace. Anyone who saw the group didn't stop them to ask why one of them was blindfolded, even though they all knew it looked quite odd. Seth had such a terrible sense of direction that after ten minutes of travel, she gave up on trying to figure out where they were since she was totally lost.

An hour later they were passing threw Felwood. Seth could recognize the gross smell, but she didn't dare ask why they were here because she was afraid she would lose her breakfast. When they arrived at the furbolg cave, they stopped to have lunch. Seth unfortunately was still blindfolded. Seliea refused to remove it until they got to there location. Other than for the lunch break, there was almost no talking during the trip, and it was starting to freak Seth out.

"Are we there yet?" Seth asked like an impatient child.

"Halfway there," replied Cy.

When the chill of Winterspring hit Seth's skin, she had several mixed emotions come to her and she shivered. Cy stopped momentarily to throw a thick blanket around her and then they continued on. Seth knew they were in Winterspring now, but what she still couldn't figure out was why. Where were they taking her and what would be waiting for her once she arrived? She had been so busy wondering what was going on she hadn't even thought about Thal. For the most part, that was a good thing.

After a while Seth gave up on trying to figure out there destination and just settled for trying to get someone to talk with her.

"Guys, not to be rude or anything, but right now this gift totally sucks," Seth said.

"Seth, this isn't even the gift. This is like the ride to the store to get the gift," replied Seliea.

"Well why did you have to pick a store so far away? You could have just gotten me some leather hair ties or something. Much less of a hassle."

"Yes, but what's the fun in that? This is more fun!" replied Gimbly.

"Fun? I don't know what you're doing, but I'm totally bored back here. And it's too quite. It's like you guys aren't even here. It's kinda freaking me out."

"Sorry. Guess there's just not much to talk about.," said Cy.

A little further into Winterspring and the group stopped. Seliea dismounted and tied her mount to Cy and Seth's.

"Alright guys, I'm going to clear a path real quick. Wait here till I get back. I won't be that long," said Seliea.

"Wait, clear a path? What's in our way? A bunch of trees or something?" asked Seth.

"Yes Seth. Many, many trees," replied Seliea and then she walked off and started clearing them a path. About five minutes later she returned and the group continued on. Seth went from being freezing to sweating. Now she wasn't sure they had even been in Winterspring at all. But they had passed through the Furbolg cave...And now they were in a heated area near winterspring.

A thousand light bulbs went off in Seth's head all at once. They were in the southern part of Winterspring where all the demons resided. Seliea had gone ahead to clear them a path through the demons. But why would they be going this way? Unless they were making there way into Hyjal! Why on Azeroth would they want to take her there? Did they think she wouldn't feel pain when going to places she had been with Thal? Or was this there idea of a sick joke? Well they wouldn't be laughing when Seth took off and got out of here.

~*~*~*~ Escape Scene FTW! ~*~*~*~

I had it all planned out. Once we were in Hyjal and close to a forested area, I would jump off of my Mistsaber, take off this stupid blindfold and run into the trees. Of course, they would chase after me. I didn't know how much time I would have to run away. It all depended on their reaction. I would have taken my mount with me, but she was tied to Cy's and if I tried to untie it they would notice something was up. The more spontaneous this was, the more time I would have to run. Once I was in the trees I would climb the tallest one I could find and fly off. I'd actually never flown on Azeroth, but I hoped it wasn't any different from flying in Northrend or Outlands.

The heat dissipated as we entered Hyjal. I realized then I had no way of knowing if we would be near some trees unless I took the blindfold off. I mentally cursed. I moved my hands up toward my face and pretended to scratch my nose. Quickly I moved the blindfold up a few centimeters. I still couldn't see anything when my head was straight, but if I tilted it back...

Bingo! I probably looked pretty weird right now. A few yards ahead I could see a patch of five or so trees. It would only take us a minute to reach it and once we did I would get out of here. I tilted my head back down and braced my hands against the saddle. Then, I pushed my legs over my head and pushed off from the saddle into the air. Before I had even landed I ripped the blindfold off and dashed toward the trees in cat form. I head Seliea curse from behind me and order the others to follow after me.

I made it into the trees and looked around. Quickly I sunk my claws into the nearest tree and climbed as high as I could go without the limb I was sitting on breaking. I slowed my breathing and went into stealth mode. Not long after that I saw Seliea, Gimbly, and Cy down below me looking around. Seliea was hastily searching the treetops while Cy and Gimbly were scouting the ground.

"She couldn't have gone that far," Seliea said. Just then she noticed the claw marks I had left in the tree and looked up. She picked up a rock from the ground and hurled it directly at me. I broke my stealth and jumped from the tree. I could feel my bones getting lighter and snapping into place as I sprouted wings and feathers. Flying here was so much easier than in Outlands where gravity was almost non existent or Northrend where there were howling winds. I zoomed out of the trees and toward the mountains. Seliea shouted something below me, but I was too far out of range to hear it. I was just about to cross into Winterspring when I smelt burning wood. I stopped in mid air and turned. Near the world tree there was smoke rising from the distance. As much as I wanted to get out of here, I was more curious to see what was going on over there.

When I first started flying there, I saw Seliea and the others on there mounts chasing me. When I started getting closer, they seemed to slow down and stop following me all together. Maybe they gave up and were headed home, thinking that's where I was flying. It didn't matter, I was more concerned with the smoke. I circled around for a while, but I couldn't find what was causing the smoke. I made circling arcs downward until I could shift back in to my normal self. I decided I would make my way toward the smoke on foot.

Almost right after I started walking, I came across a river that looked too familiar. This was where I had first met Thal. I chased the memories away and tried to focus on the smoke, but it was extremely hard since the smoke seemed to be directly up stream. When the river began to widen, I slowed down a bit and became more cautious. When I got to the widest part of the river, I almost slapped myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. About ten yards away from the river sat a small cottage. I didn't know why I couldn't see it from the air. It freaked me out so much because this was the same cottage I had lived in when I had that dream before I went to rescue Thal. Had my friends built this for me? No, that was impossible. I had never told them about my dream. So how?

I walked up toward the cottage and looked it over. Ever detail was there. The flowers sitting in the window, the wood it was made out of and even the welcome home mat in front of the door. I was speechless and breathless. There was just no way. Slowly I reached out for the door knob and turned it. I carefully pushed the door in and looked around. There was a staircase right across from the door. To the right was a small den with an empty bookshelf, two couches and a chair, and a small table sitting on a rug. There was a rose sitting on the table. On the left side was what looked like a kitchen with a small round table that seated four. I walked into the den and gently picked up the rose. I put it up to my nose and took in a deep breath. It smelled so beautiful. There was something else I smelled, but I couldn't place it.

"I hope you like it," said a voice from behind me. I dropped the rose and my eyes went wide. There was just no way. Now I knew I was dreaming. I gathered up all the courage I had left and turned around.

My breath caught in my throat. I couldn't believe it. If this was a dream, I never wanted to wake up. Standing behind me with that stupid grin on his face was none other than Thaladona. His skin was still that pale color I remembered and his eyes and hair were still crystal blue. He had his hair tied up in a, yes, ponytail and was removing what looked like gardener's gloves. He was wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and what looked to be like some sort of blue cloth pants.

"I hadn't seen the inside of the house when I was in your dream, but I did my best. Do you like the rose? I picked it this morning from the garden out back. Once you get over the shock, you should look at it. It'll take your breath away."

I think for a moment, I forgot how to speak. I seriously didn't know what to say. So I said the first thing that came to my mind.

"Am I dreaming?"

Thal laughed and walked over to me. He took both of my hands in his and looked me in the eye.

"No, Seth. You're not dreaming. This is actually real this time."

"How?"

"Your friend Gimbly is a wizz at creating new potions. She brought me back to life with one, but it's a one time thing. If I die again, It won't have any affect on me. On the bright side, there aren't any side effects," he explained.

I hadn't even noticed I had began crying. Thal wiped them away as quickly as they appeared. "Happy Birthday, Seth," he said.

At that moment so many emotions clouded my judgment. I had no idea what to say, so instead of saying something to ruin the moment, I did what I should have done all those months ago when we were on the lake. I closed my eyes, leaned forward, and kissed him. This was the best birthday ever!

* * *

**And there it is, folks. The end of DMEMS... Took me almost a year, but no we've come full circle. So, what did you think? Let me know! Also, there MIGHT be a sequal. It all depends on how well I can fit there story into the Cataclysm Expac. So a sequal to this will be on its way IF Cataclysm is good and gives me ideas! Thanks for sticking with me all this time guys! Till the next time!**

**~ViV~**


	20. Ashenta Note

**Hey guys! I don't know how many of you actually looked at my profile, so for those of you who didn't I have some awesome news for you. There will be a sequel to Death, My Enemy, My Savior! I know, right! I don't want to give too much away, but I will tell you a majority of the characters from Death are in this story. Also, this story isn't focused on Seth and Thal (Though they do appear in it multiple times), instead it's focused on their 16 year old daughter! Ok, so here's the description:  
**

**The sequel to Death, My Enemy, My Savior. This story focuses totally on Seth and Thal's daughter, Ashenta. Thal and Seth's Hyjal home was disturbed with the Shattering and the Twilights Hammer Cultists took Ashenta from them when she was barely a year old. Now, fifteen years later Ashenta is studying to be a sorcerer at the Twilight Academy. The more magic she learns, the more she feels empty and wishes to leave. When her chance finally comes, she takes it and sets off on a journey to find out who she is and more importantly to find her parents.**

**So readers, look out, because in less than 2 months Ashenta's first chapter will be out! Till then!**


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